


Butterfly Effect

by Magestorrow



Series: Human Nature [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-04-22 02:44:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 33,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14299053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magestorrow/pseuds/Magestorrow
Summary: Countless years ago, the homunculi noticed that their father was not a good person. A meeting was held, and it was decided that they would each go their separate ways to prevent being found. While they may have had the rare encounter, they know nothing of the lives of their siblings. It wasn't a true way of living, but it was something. But then the homunculi of that world somehow arrive in a reality where they never left Father's side. Confused and alone, the homunculi only have each other to turn to.And their new reality?Let's just call it Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The first minute after waking up was spent staring at the brick wall across from him; he must have been in alleyway of sorts, but his memories of how he ended up here were vague at best. Trying to think back on what had happened made his head hurt, and he quickly decided to just deal with whatever was thrown his way. 

He heard a groan from someone nearby. Whipping his head around, he found himself staring at an oddly familiar man. He couldn't put his finger on why, but he somehow knew him. The man was holding his head in his hands, an empty glass bottle beside him. If he noticed him, the man certainly didn't say anything. He continued to quietly bemoan his hangover.

He stared at the stranger for another minute before getting to his feet and slipping out into the street. The street was bustling with people for such a late time of day. It wasn't hard to blend into the crowd. Not like it ever was, for him. 

He knew the street, and yet he didn't. Strange. There should have been a different building on the corner, and the man getting the mail from the mailbox he just passed didn't own that shop. It was while he was observing this peculiarity that he bumped into a boy with fierce golden eyes – eyes that were startling familiar. They studied each other's faces for another minute. An armored man joined the boy by his side, reprimanding in the voice of a child.

And then the boy's eyes widened, and he uttered a word that made him recoil in shock. 

“Envy!”

“Ed, the hair and clothes aren't right-”

“The face is, Al-”

He took the opportunity to flee from the confrontation. His heart was pounded in his ears as he turned corner after corner, desperately trying to shake off the two boys he knew were surely following him. He settled with hiding out in the restroom of the grocery store on the corner of the street. The duo never entered the store, but he waited for several more minutes before reemerging onto the street. How could they have possibly known who he was?

_And why did he look so much like Father?_

He somehow managed to make it to where his house was, even though his mind stubbornly continued to return to that horrifying encounter. Causing him distress was a difficult task, but the combination of someone knowing his identity and the general lack of an explanation for everything made him quite worried. 

But then there wasn't a house.

There should have been – the plot of land was exactly the same size, and the buildings bordering it were the ones that had bordered his home. He moved to the side. Took a step forward. Took a step back. He even stepped onto what should have been his property. But, no matter how he tried to look at the place, the house failed to appear. 

He did the only thing he could think of.

He laughed – a hysterical, broken sound that made the people passing him giving him a nervous look. He had no money on him, and his house was missing. His house, which had everything he owned. The only thing he had left were the clothes on his back, and he could do nothing with that.

**~v~**

The house had been empty for years – they claimed it was haunted by the ghost of a child who had died long ago. There had always been knowledge of a ghost, but it had only been recently that it had gained the adjective of child. A group of teenagers had entered the house several days prior. While they certainly had survived the encounter, they had left the place babbling about childlike laughter and moving shadows. They had tried to warn that strange lady, but she had brushed the warnings off with a dismissive gesture of her hand and entered the building anyways. Some of the town thought nothing of it. The other half were certain they'd have a dead body on their hands by sunrise.

And it was only after she entered that they collectively realized that not a single one of them knew her name.

Upon entering the supposedly deserted house, the woman discarded her coat on the dusty coat rack near the front door. Her heels clicked on the wooden floor. She had no qualms about making her presence known.

She began her search of the property. She entered room after room, a flickering lamp as her only source of light. The shadows took on menacing shapes as she progressed, but she paid them no mind. They were merely extensions of the one she was looking for. He would undoubtedly be lurking among the darkest regions of the house.

After her search of the first and second floors proved fruitless, she approached the final location – the door to what had to be the basement. She rested her hand on the doorknob. Almost immediately, the shadows formed into something cruel and unusual. Hundreds of little eyes peered out at her, their owner bringing them closer and closer to where she was standing.

She opened the door.

“Leave,” a child's voice commanded. 

The echo that accompanied it should have been disconcerting, but the woman stubbornly progressed down the stairs. The peculiar shadows followed her every step, shifting and moving the closer she came to reaching her quarry.

She halted at the bottom of the stairs.

“Pride,” she said, “I know you're here.”

After a moment passed, a boy slipped out of the darkness. He couldn't have been more than seven or eight; it appeared that he, too, had failed to age a single day. He studied her face. Her hair was a stylish black bob, and her dark eyes were cold and calculating.

She gave him a cool smile. “I have a proposition I think you might like.” 

The abnormal shadows retreated back to the boy, now only visible a short distance around him. He studied her face once more. Satisfied with what he saw, he nodded. 

“I'm listening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading through this first chapter! I'm not sure if I'll ever completely finish this story, but I'm going to continue working on it for as long as I can. The time frame of the fic is currently unknown; I'm still trying to figure out when the perfect time to introduce my versions of the homunculi is. 
> 
> But thanks again! Please let me know what you think in the comments.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

He took a deep breath. Let it out. Repeated the process. He had to think clearly if he was going to get to the bottom of this, but it was difficult to do so when all of his earthly possessions had abruptly disappeared. He needed to figure out where they had gone and why. At the very least, he could rule out Father. It was a foolish move that would fail to benefit him. Death or capture would have been a more fitting response to discovering his location.

He glanced up at the sky. The light was beginning to fade. He was unsure of where he was supposed to stay for the night, but he was certain of one thing: that godforsaken alleyway was his best shot and figuring out what the hell had happened to him. The streets had slowly became more and more empty as he had stared at what should have been his house. He had no problems finding one that completely lacked other people. A flash of red – _I'm sorry_ – and his form shifted to a man with auburn hair and blue eyes. Those two odd kids would never be able to recognize him now.

He maneuvered his way throughout the somewhat familiar streets. When he returned to the alleyway, he was surprised to see that the hungover man had left. He wasn't quite sure how long it took for a hangover to pass, but it had barely been an hour since he had left. Though he was curious about where the man had stumbled off to, relief flooded him. It would be much easier to explore the alleyway if he was alone.

He started to inspect where he had woken up. Nothing stood out; it was just a frustratingly normal alleyway. The further he looked down into the darkness, the more convinced he became. He had found a literal and metaphorical dead end. This stupid place wasn't going to help him in the slightest. He went to leave.

And then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and the breath of someone on his bare neck. 

Cursing his carelessness, he spun around to see who had somehow managed to sneak up on him. What felt like an incredibly sharp fingernail dug into his skin. He tried to get a good look at who it was, but they had wisely remained in the shadows. “You know,” a voice accused him, masculine and young. Familiar, too. Why was it so familiar? 

“Know what?” he innocently asked.

“Why I'm here.” The fingernail impatiently tapped his shoulder. “And you're going to tell me why the hell I'm in the middle of Central and not in Dublith!” 

He knew the voice. He must have heard it somewhere before, but wouldn't he have remembered who it had belonged to? He garnered a second glance back at the man. Whether it was because he suddenly realized that the fingernail wasn't normal or because he knew it was his only chance at getting a glimpse of the man, his gaze dropped down to his own shoulder.

It wasn't a normal human hand.

_The Ultimate Shield?_

He held his hands up in mock surrender. “Greed, calm down.” 

It was the wrong response. The Ultimate Shield dug even more into his skin. “How do you know that name?” the homunculus whispered, each word a thinly veiled threat.

He broke free of his grasp. Hurrying over to the other side of the alleyway to avoid being caught by Greed again, he readied himself for an attack. He could easily deflect whatever blows he received, but he needed to calm the homunculus down. Engaging in a battle wasn't the best course of action. 

“Because I'm Envy.”

The man who he had seen when he first awoke stepped out into the light of the alleyway, his Ouroboros tattoo clearly displayed on a hand that had returned to its normal state. He hadn't been hungover. He must have been going through the same thing he had - trying to recall what had brought him here, only to be met with a terrible headache when he thought too hard on it. 

Greed studied him with dark eyes. Envy returned the gesture, trying to align the appearance of this man with the one he had known so long ago. He supposed that Greed was struggling to do the same; it didn't help that this form barely resembled the one he had used back then. 

“You've...changed,” he slowly said. His gaze lingered on the flamboyant outfit the other homunculus was wearing. Lips curling up into a smirk, he added, “But at least your terrible sense of style hasn't.” 

“You shouldn't be talking,” Greed replied.

Their eyes met.

And then they both laughed; some things would always be the same. He had forgotten how good it felt to be with his brother again. How long had it been? A handful of decades? A century? The sheer length of his life made it difficult recall the specifics. But seeing a familiar face among all of this chaos was perhaps the best thing he could ask for. 

When the laughter ceased, the two abruptly adopted more serious expressions on their faces. There was a common courtesy among their small family. When one homunculus met another, certain things had to be established early on. Envy honestly couldn't remember it had come into being, but it was second nature to them now.

“What name are you using now?” he asked.

“Julius,” Greed answered. “You?”

He looked down at the form he had chosen. “I _was_ going by the name Evan, but I bumped into a kid on the street who somehow knew who I was.” He thought for a moment. “Do I look like an Arthur?”

“Possibly,” Greed admitted.

“Then Arthur it is.”

**~v~**

By a stroke of luck, Greed happened to have his wallet on him. They found the nearest inn – as it was getting dark – and rented a room under Greed's false name. The six of them had made a strict pact never to be seen together, excluding accidental meetings, but the strange circumstances surrounding their encounter made them disregard that rule.

They ordered room service, and had a feast neither technically needed. The food wasn't superb, but it was something. They both remained silent for the duration of their meal. It was only after they had both finished that Envy ventured into a conversation about what he had been through. Greed listened to every word with one of the most serious expressions he had ever seen; though he hadn't met that strange boy, he had noted several differences between the Central he knew and this one. 

“We need to find that boy,” Greed surmised. He was lounging on the bed now, looking up at the ceiling. Envy, perched on the end of his own bed, was awed by how comfortable Greed was in the midst of all of this. “If he knows about you, he must have some idea of what's going.”

“We could ask around tomorrow,” Envy said. He didn't like drawing attention to himself, but what else could they do? That boy was the only lead they had left.

“With that guy in the suit of armor following him around, it should be easy.” Greed stifled a yawn. “You said he sounded like a kid, right? Must be a tall kid to fit into armor like that.” 

“Must be,” he muttered. The other homunculus gave another exaggerated yawn. He took the hint. He got to his feet. After a bit of searching, he discovered where the light switch was and turned it off. Darkness settled upon the room. His desire to sleep tried to lure him over to his bed, but he couldn't fall asleep. 

Not when there was so little he understood.

**~v~**

The boy's name was Edward Elric.

The kid in the suit of armor was his younger brother Alphonse, and the two of them were fairly accomplished alchemists. Edward had become a state alchemist at the young age of twelve. Though his brother was apparently just as talented, Alphonse lacked the military credentials. Despite this, Alphonse accompanied his brother everywhere; according to the people of Central, finding one meant finding the other. 

So they set about to do exactly that.

Tracking down the brothers meant walking through some of the more sophisticated areas of Central. “Arthur” already looked the part, but Envy was certain that Greed would stand out like a sore thumb once they entered. They argued for a bit on if his outfit really needed to be changed. Envy's common sense eventually won out over Greed's stubbornness, and Greed bought himself a black suit and fedora from a used clothing store. (It wasn't a complete victory; Greed refused to get rid of his tacky sunglasses.) 

Their search wasn't difficult. One person would lead them to another. They had left the hotel they were staying at. They stopped by Central's headquarters. Then they went off towards the nearest library. By the time Greed and Envy arrived, the brothers had left the building. They hadn't gone far – they were only a handful of feet away from the steps that led up to the majestic building.

Greed started to walk towards them, but Envy held his hand out. He was the one that the Elric brothers had somehow recognized. While that could have been enough of a reason to talk with them, what was more important was the diplomacy needed. They couldn't scare them away. From the few conversations he had had with his brother since they were reunited, he knew that his brother was no better of a smooth talker than he was when they went their separate ways.

“Mr. Fullmetal Alchemist?”

Envy quickly bridged the gap between himself and the two boys. Alphonse was the first to turn, giving his brother's strangely red coat a quick tug to get his attention. When he was certain that both of the boys were looking at him, he gave them an eager smile that didn't reach his eyes. “It really is you, isn't! Are we so lucky, Julius?”

Greed hesitantly nodded.

He stepped forward. With a single, fluid motion, he was clasping Edward's hands together in his own. The boy was too shocked by the action to respond. “It's such a honor to finally meet you – I've heard so many good stories about everything you've done! Do you think-No, that would be too much, wouldn't it? Julius, they'd never let us write a column about them.” 

“Column?” Alphonse asked. Now that he wasn't terrified of being discovered, he could actually study the strange alchemist. His eyes weren't eyes, really. They were two little pinpricks of light in the center of darkness. Combine that with the way his voice seemed to echo inside of his armor, and Envy had _many_ questions.

But, at the moment, he had an act he needed to keep up.

“Julius and I are reporters, you see,” Envy explained. He let go of Edward's hands. “Traveling ones, who happened to be visiting Central on a boring case about a burglary. Talking to an accomplished state alchemist would be far more interesting. But, alas! You and your brother must have incredibly tight schedules, and I doubt you'd have enough time to chat with us in our hotel room about everything you've done.”

Greed let out a sigh. From the dejected look on his face, he knew his brother had finally gotten the gist of his plan. “We should go, Arthur. If we don't send in that article soon, our newspaper is going to have nothing to publish – though I doubt it will help us with our decreasing sales.”

“We can only hope that it'll prevent us from going out of business,” he consoled him, giving him a light pat on the shoulder. The homunculi turned to walk away. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Fullmetal Alchemist! My little girl is going to be so happy when I tell her that her papa met a state alchemist.” 

Hook, line and sinker. A fervent admirer to stroke their egos, a sob story to play with their hearts and a reference to a little girl that could possibly go hungry if they didn't help them out. Even before Edward and Alphonse hurried after them, he knew his lie had done its trick.

“Wait!” Edward called out.

Envy paused. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Edward was almost right behind him. _Perfect._ “We'll-we'll answer your questions.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Fullmetal Alchemist – Julius and I will gladly bring you to our room to talk.” He smiled. “I'm sure you'll find our questions _quite_ interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this chapter! Having Greed and Envy interact in this fic is more fun than I could have guessed; they don't have the same divide that they have in the canon material because they both wanted to leave Father's side.
> 
> I think the next chapter might be from Edward or Alphonse's perspective, rather than Envy again - their reactions can be clearly relayed to you guys, instead of seeing them through the perspective of the person talking to them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Each moment spent following the two reporters was another moment that could have been spent trying to catch up to Mei, but both of the Elric brothers knew that they had to help the reporters. Alphonse loved helping people without knowing their stories. And Edward, who thought of the little girls _they_ knew and had known, couldn't let the reporter's daughter go hungry because her father couldn't get a good story. The fate of the country could be put on hold if it meant helping an innocent child.

But something about that taller one – Julius, wasn't it? – seemed off. Ed studied the man's back as his associate cheerfully led the small group through Central's bustling streets. He was certain he had seen him before, but where? He normally had a stellar memory, but he suspected that the fedora and oddly familiar sunglasses were making it harder to discern where they had met.

He glanced over at Al. They held eye contact before looking away; he must have had the same train of thought. But Ed knew he had never met a Julius before. He would have remembered a name like that! So if he didn't know a Julius but knew this man, it could only mean that the man was lying about his name.

_So who is he?_

A feeling of unease settled upon him. Someone hiding their identity was never a good thing, and the memories of his meeting with Father was still fresh in his mind. They had so many enemies now. Wouldn't it make sense if this Julius was one of them? He doubted he was involved with Father. It would be too soon. But when he ran through the list of people he had angered over the years, someone like Julius simply wasn't there.

They came to a stop before a small little inn.

“This is the place,” Arthur announced. He marched inside. A few heads turned as the other three followed, but no one asked any questions. The interior of the building was just as small as the exterior made it appear. Two floors high, with only ten rooms per floor that a customer could rent out. The room that Arthur and Julius had been staying in was on the second floor and the opposite end of the hallway. They passed by the rooms leading to it without incident.

It was only when they had stepped inside that Ed realized they had made a terrible mistake.

The Elrics had only gone several feet into the room when Arthur casually walked over to the door and shut it. While that was expected, what was unexpected was him locking it and blocking their only way out of the room. The cheerful facade immediately disappeared. A cruel, terrifyingly familiar smile graced the man's lips as he looked the two of them over.

“Envy,” Ed growled. 

Anger clawed at him. The bastard! How dare he play them like this. He had to know about the grief Elicia had been through after her father's death, and had to know the grief they had been through after losing Nina. Mentioning a daughter was too low of a blow for even the sin of jealously. 

The homunculus did a little bow. “In the flesh.” He gestured at the other man. “We still want to ask you some questions – they're just a _little_ different than what you were expecting.”

“He's in on it, too-” His voice caught in his throat as Julius lazily tossed the fedora onto the bed closest to him. Though his hair was a mess from being underneath the hat, it made his face undeniably familiar. Ed had been through countless horrors in the span of the past few days, but none of it compared to what he saw now. He could come up with some sort of explanation for that. But this? How could he explain a homunculus who had died, and one whose philosopher's stone had been placed into Ling to create any entirely new version of himself? 

The homunculus in question gave a slight stretch and threw himself down onto the same bed that his hat was on. 

Envy took one look at the sight and sighed.

“Greed, I'm trying to interrogate them.” 

The homunculus who shouldn't have been there – couldn't have been there – shrugged. “I'm not stopping you. Go ahead. Ask them what you want to. From the look on that little Fullmetal brat's face, he knows who I am. His answers are bound to be entertaining.”

“Who are you calling a half pint-”

Al had to restrain his older brother from lunging at the lounging man. While Ed tried to blow off steam with a hardened glare, Al turned to Envy. He didn't say anything. He stared at the homunculus, imploring him to continue whatever he had in store. There was little they could do now. Under the watchful eye of the corrupt military, acting out against the homunculi was far from a good idea. They would just have to sit through this apparent interrogation and avoid every question they could.

“Let's start with names,” Envy began.

Ed raised an eyebrow. “You know who we are.”

“We do,” the homunculus carefully said, “but you know ours.”

The brothers exchanged a confused look. “Of course we do.” 

“You say that like it's common sense,” Envy said. He leaned back against the door, studying the two of them with blue eyes. “You shouldn't know that, Fullmetal. Neither should your brother. Why do you think this is so normal?”

“We've overheard other homunculi call you it,” Edward slowly answered. Try as he might to comprehend why they were having this conversation in the first place, he couldn't. He glanced over at Greed. The sin of avarice had propped himself up on a stack of pillows and was watching them, a strange look flickering across his face as their eyes met.

“You're one of Izumi's kids!” Greed said, suddenly shooting up with a start. He looked from one Elric brother to the other. It shouldn't have been such a surprise; Izumi had encountered him after he had kidnapped Al. “It's been so long that I almost didn't recognize you. You're still small, though-”

“Who are you calling a-”

“Greed, you know them?” Envy interrupted. He was starting to step away from the door. Escaping wasn't an option at the moment, but Ed was waiting for the opportunity. If he just walked a little farther away...

The homunculus grinned. “Like hell I do. Their teacher owns the local butcher shop with her husband in Dublith – I'd always see them when I went to get food for-”

Envy straightened. He had the strangest feeling that the conversation no longer concerned them. He gave another glance in Al's direction, his brother already inching towards the door. Ed was inclined to do the same, but something made him want to stay. This wasn't normal. The idea of homunculi was an abnormal thing, but this conversation strayed even past that. 

_It's almost like they've forgotten everything about us._

“For who?”

Greed remained silent.

“Greed, _who_ were you getting food for?” 

The grin faded. “...my friends.”

“Friends? What sort of friends?” Envy was growing more agitated with every syllable; he looked like he was on the verge of lunging at the other homunculus. Ed could have easily escaped in this one moment. Al could have, too. With the door now unguarded, running out into the hallway would have been easy. But he wanted to know what was going, and he suspected Al felt the same.

Because, whether they liked it or not, dealing with things like the homunculi had become their reality.

The sin's voice was small. “Chimeras.”

“You mean to tell me that after all those years of hiding – all those years of pretending that we don't exist – you went to hang out with the government's fucking _experiments_!? Greed, what the hell is wrong with you!? I bet you even told them that your real name!”

“I did,” Greed hotly replied, suddenly with a burst of anger of his own. “We weren't really living, Envy! And they needed someone. I gave them my everything. They gave me theirs. _That's_ what living is. Not what we were doing! And if Father found us, fine! I'd protect those chimeras with my life, and they'd do the same for me. No one could ever defeat us!”

Alphonse nervously cleared his throat. The two homunculi spun around to look at the armored boy, who was currently only a foot away from the door. They were glaring daggers, gazes only softening when they stopped staring at each other. “But that's what happened.”

“ _Excuse me?_ ”

“The military, led by Fuhrer King Bradley arrived in the Devil's Nest after you kidnapped me. They-they killed everyone there.” Al's voice was shaking. Quiet. Ed didn't blame him. Greed was fiercely protective of his possessions. To find out that they had been taken from him, even though he should have already known that...

“Kidnapped you? Kid, I never-” Ed looked away when Greed tried to meet his eyes. “You're not joking, are you? How-how could that have happened? I'd never kidnap a kid! And I should remember losing them!”

Al hesitated. “You might not be completely there.”

“What?”

“You're supposed to be in Ling's body,” Ed helpfully supplied, coming to his brother's assistance. “That Greed doesn't remember anything from before then.” He glanced over at Envy; he had a surprisingly neutral expression on his face, given the previous topic of the conversation. “But Envy would know about that.”

Greed glared at the homunculus in question. Envy balked at the look. Glancing wildly between the two Elric brothers, he hurriedly said, “I don't know what the Fullmetal brat is talking about! Greed, stop giving me that look – I don't even know how you'd put a homunculus is a human's body!” 

“You were there,” Al protested. “You were standing right next to Father when it happened.”

Both of the homunculi became eerily still. A look flickered across their faces – one that, if they weren't inhuman monsters, could almost be interpreted as a look of terror. The two simultaneously came to what appeared to be some sort of conclusion, jaws dropping and eyes widening as they turned to each other.

“There's a theory, isn't there?” Envy whispered. “A theory where different realities are created based on the different choices a person could take. And those realities would be drastically different, wouldn't they?”

“They would,” Greed confirmed, his voice small and afraid.

“What if we never left?” he said. “Father would have manipulated us for years and we-and we might have done some horrible things. Become horrible people. Horrible enough for a kid to hate me the moment he saw my face, and horrible enough for you to kidnap someone.”

“ _Shit_ ,” Greed muttered, biting his lip to stop the tears already starting to form in his eyes. “Shit, shit, shit. Who are we supposed to go to? How are we supposed to get back?”

Ed had never seen someone look as hopeless as Envy did.

“I don't know.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! I don't think Ed will get any more chapters in the near future, but it was fun try to write from his perspective. Greed and Envy's antics made it all the more enjoyable. I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did, and please let me know what you think in the comments!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Any thought of escaping the room had left Alphonse's mind the moment the two homunculi started to break down. The words that they said vaguely registered; he had been trying to comprehend far too many groundbreaking concepts in the past few days. But the looks on the faces – the heartbroken, terrified looks – were unfitting of the Greed and the Envy he knew. Greed continued to sit on the bed, tears silently sliding down pale cheeks as he stared blankly off into the distance. Envy began to wander from one side of the room to the other. The form he had chosen was almost as tall as Al's armor, but he looked so small and afraid. Al was overcome by the absurd urge to embrace both of them. Even if _he_ couldn't feel it, they certainly needed the comfort.

“I don't understand,” Ed said.

Envy looked over at him. He adopted a look similar to the blank one on the face of the other homunculus, but there was a fire burning in his eyes. It reminded Al a lot of his brother, oddly enough. “We're not from here,” he slowly explained, as if Ed was somehow at fault for not understanding the strange comments they had made moments before.

“I get that,” Ed answered. He furrowed his brow. “But _where_ are you from?”

Envy sighed. “Another reality. Like I said. Anything else?”

No one spoke. Greed was too busy grieving the loss of the little normalcy he had in his life – the chimeras that were now dead – to contribute to the conversation. Ed was likely too shocked by the notion of alternate realities to speak, and Al was unsure of what he was supposed to say in a situation like this. He wanted to comfort the two homunculi. But how could he possibly do that when they had only just learned that their lives had changed drastically?

Al sat down on the edge of Greed's bed. It creaked underneath the weight of his armor, but Greed didn't look over at him. He slid closer to the homunculus. Though he must have noticed the gigantic suit of armor sitting beside him, Greed stubbornly watched the wall across the room. 

“This isn't your reality, right?”

Greed managed a nod.

Al looked over at his brother and Envy, who were now only standing a foot apart. “So we should try figuring out the differences,” he suggested. “Then we can figure out what to do.”

Ed crossed his arms. “We don't know too much about the homunculi...” He looked from Greed to Envy, both of whom still refused to show how much they were hurting. A grin started to spread across his brother's face, and it was then that Al knew what his brother was going to decide. “But it's worth a shot!”

**~v~**

Edward and Envy found a spot on the same bed, Edward sitting across from Alphonse and Envy sitting across from his brother. The two alchemists started things off. They told the homunculi everything they knew about the homunculi of this world. How they were part of the darker side of the corrupt military, and how they served under a Father of their own. They knew little to nothing about Father, save for the odd resemblance he shared with their own dad. Greed and Envy exchanged a look at this. Father had mentioned Van Hoenheim once, but had never exactly explained how they were related. It at least provided an explanation for why Edward looked like a younger version of Father. 

“So you know where all of the homunculi are?” Envy asked. 

“Almost,” Edward said.

Alphonse nodded in agreement. “We met everyone except for Pride and Sloth, and our Lust died.”

“Shit,” Greed muttered. “Poor Gluttony.” 

Neither of the Elric brothers commented on what Greed said, unsure of how to respond. Envy tried not to think about it, either. The thought of his sister being dead...It didn't sit well with him. And even though he knew Gluttony and Lust had gone their separate ways, just like they all had, they had been joined at the hip back when they were together. One being alive while the other was not had to be a torturous thing for the survivor. 

He took a deep breath in an effort to cleanse his mind.

“Well, you'll know Sloth when you see him.” Envy gestured at the ceiling. “He's taller than that. Muscular, too – he really stands out in a crowd. Pride's a bit harder to find, but not too much if you know his trademark. He looks like a little kid. Black hair, dark eyes. Sloth is just all brute strength. Pride, on the other hand, is a conniving little bastard who can control shadows.”

Greed harrumphed. “Spoiled brat.”

Edward and Alphonse exchanged a look.

“So you don't like Pride?” Alphonse hesitantly asked.

“He's the oldest,” Greed elaborated. “Pops gave him everything, and Pride knew it. He'd adopt this innocent look on his face whenever the rest of us got in trouble and _always_ avoid being punished.”

Envy frowned, reminiscing on the aforementioned incidents. It had been _so_ annoying. Father had to have known that Pride was just as guilty as the rest of them – after all, the six were closer than most siblings – but had let him get away with it every time. One memory led to another, and he was suddenly recalling a different sort of incident.

He leaned forward. “Pride was the best actor out of all of us. I could change my form, but Pride was stuck as a kid. So he had to get creative. Whenever we'd go out, he'd somehow trick people into giving him free stuff. Candy, toys – we all had the mentality of kids ourselves, so we never had a problem with it.”

Edward folded his arms. “So someone must have adopted _our_ Pride. Probably a higher up, and certainly someone involved in this whole-” He made a wide, sweeping gesture with his hands. “-mess.” 

“But shouldn't we have-” 

Alphonse suddenly fell silent.

“Al, what's wrong?” Edward hurriedly asked; though they were far from similar, it was nice for Envy to see that the Elric brothers cared about each other as much as his family did. “Did you figure out who it was?”

Alphonse's voice was small. “I think it's Selim.”

The older Elric simply stared at the other.

“Whose this Selim kid?” Greed questioned, oblivious to the terror of the humans sitting beside him. He looked over at Envy for help. He had lived in Central, after all, so the query wasn't that surprising. But, as far as he knew, there wasn't a Selim. It seemed like the guess may have been the correct one.

“Selim Bradley,” Edward quietly explained. “The Fuhrer's son.”

Greed and Envy exchanged alarmed looks. No wonder they didn't know who Selim was; in their reality, their Fuhrer had no children. Which was a bit odd, considering that the guy had to be in his early sixties. But who was Envy to judge? It wasn't like he could have them himself. 

A tense silence settled upon the four. Edward and Alphonse watched each other with horrified looks on their faces (though Envy was assuming Alphonse was scared from the tone of voice). Greed and Envy waited for some sort of conversation starter. When neither of the Elric brothers seemed like they were going to give one, Greed abruptly clapped his hands together.

The boys jumped at the noise.

“Let's talk about _us_ now,” Greed began.

Edward reluctantly gestured for him to go on.

“Well, we were all created by dear old dad,” Greed said, putting his hands behind him and leaning back. Envy remained stiff and upright on his respective bed. “We were all created roughly around the same time. Father took a liking to Pride and decided that he wanted more kids running around his weird underground palace – that's our guess, anyways. We didn't stay around long enough to find out.”

Envy decided to join in as well. “We were there for ten years at most. Father had already infiltrated the government by that point, and the higher ups gave us free reign. As long as we didn't reveal our true nature, we were allowed to do whatever we wanted.”

Greed let out a sigh. “Fun times. Remember when that guy tried hurting Pride, and we came up with that elaborate prank-” 

He raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Greed sheepishly said. “Anyways, the fun eventually came to an end and we decided to escape from our shockingly evil dad. It would be easy to track us all down if we stayed together, so we went our separate ways and promised never to meet up again. I ended up in Dublith. Envy stayed here in Central, since he could easily change his appearance. Lust and Gluttony both headed west, promising to split up later on. Pride went south. And Sloth went north – he's the only one of us who could possibly survive up there.” 

Edward and Alphonse exchanged another look, this time it being one of confusion. “You forgot a homunculus,” Edward pointed out.

“No we didn't,” Envy said. “That's it. There's only six of us-and you're giving us a funny look again. Alright, who did I apparently forget?”

Greed chimed in before the Elric brothers could. “Probably Wrath. I _did_ always think it was odd that Pops never made a seventh sin. He did have a thing for naming us after his sins.” He thought for a moment. “Or maybe we are his sins, like Lust guessed. So who is our long lost sibling?”

“Fuhrer King Bradley,” Alphonse answered.

“Wait, our brother is _that_ guy-”

“God, I _hate_ his policies-”

Greed sighed. “And here I thought we'd actually have a cool new sibling. Looks like the fool never saw Father for what he was.” He fell backwards onto the bed, Alphonse staring down at him moments later. “Do you think we could disown him, Envy?”

“Maybe,” Envy mused, “but he's certainly not invited to our nonexistent family reunions.”

“So that's it?” Edward asked. “That's all you know?”

Envy shrugged. “Pretty much. The last time all six of us met was when we decided to go our separate ways. Sometimes we might run into each other, but we don't even stick together. The only reason Greed and I aren't leaving each other is because we still need to figure out what's going on. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that we're not the only ones stuck in this other reality; our siblings probably are, too.”

“But we don't know who brought us here,” Greed added.

“So what are you going to do now?” Alphonse asked.

Envy looked over at his brother. “I think we're going to find our brothers and sister.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! I wanted to have a clear explanation of what Greed and Envy's reality was like, and this chapter was the perfect opportunity to do it. Since the show makes things pretty clear about who the homunculi are - at least at the point Ed and Al are from - I decided it was best to gloss over that part. Expect to see more of Envy's siblings in the near future. Other than that, please let me know what you thought of this chapter in the comments!


	5. Chapter 5

It was one thing to say that they were going to search for their siblings. Determining where the aforementioned siblings might be was a completely different matter. Envy had one idea to go off of. He lived in Central, and that was where he had appeared in this strange alternate reality. The same thing may have happened with the others. But his appearance didn't provide a suitable explanation for Greed's appearance. His brother had gone from Dublith to Central. Even if that wasn't the case, the two only knew where they had originally gone. And those directions were vague at best – they were just the cardinal directions.

Then there was the final obstacle.

Getting rid of the Elric brothers.

Envy let out a inaudible, frustrated sigh. They had been sitting in the room for more than an hour. Previously eager to leave, Edward and Alphonse had suddenly realized that the homunculi were valuable wells of information. Greed had wisely slipped into the room's bathroom twenty minutes ago and still was in there. The boys had stopped asking about what Father had been like years ago and had turned to the nature of the homunculi in general – something that Envy admittedly knew little about. He knew about himself. There was his hypothesis about his dad and Pride, which he had tested several times back when he was still living with them. What he knew about Pride was little more than a guess, and he had concealed the truth about himself from even his siblings. Neither were things he would tell two strangers about.

So he dodged every question he could. His few answers were limited and vague. Though his answers couldn't have been satisfactory, they kept prodding him with inquiries. Their eager curiosity reminded him of the kids who had lived next door to him several years ago. The Elric brothers were undoubtedly the older pair, but they were still children at heart. What had made them grow up so quickly? 

“So how is a homunculus created?” Edward asked.

He hesitated, then shrugged. 

Alphonse, guessing that his brother's question was too vague, elaborated, “How were _you_ made?” He was sitting on the very edge of the bed now, leaning forward and staring at him with little pinpricks of light. Edward wasted no time in mirroring the gesture. They weren't trying to learn more about their enemies – they were trying to learn more about the world. Which Envy would have been quite supportive of, if he wasn't the one they were pestering for information.

“Father gave me a philosopher's stone and I became a homunculus,” Envy simply said. There was so much more. His creation, his pitiful existence until that point and what he had become now – all were details he wanted to avoid. His response should have been enough to satisfy their curiosity.

But it had been the wrong answer.

Edward's eyes widened. His jaw dropped. His brother loudly gasped from within his enormous armor, the little pinpricks in his helmet growing even smaller than they already were. 

“Like Greed?” Edward whispered. “ _Our_ Greed?”

“Ed said our Envy was a monster,” Alphonse added. 

Their Greed. That one inside that poor boy who had foolishly searched for immortality. And to call his counterpart a monster – had his other self shown what he looked like after having ingested the philosopher's stone? How could he have done that? It was a horrible, horrible thing to show even himself. He had never once taken that form since he had realized he could take others.

But then the words settled in.

_They think I was a human._

The hungry beast inside his chest desired with all its might to confirm the words they were so willing to believe. He opened his mouth to speak. To confirm or deny the assumption, he didn't know and would never truly know – there was a loud flush of the toilet, and Greed kicked open the door to the bathroom.

“You have to have finished by now,” he said. He took one long look at the brothers, who sheepishly nodded, before grabbing his fedora. He threw it on. In the same fluid motion, he adjusted the rim so it concealed the more recognizable features of his face. “Let's go, Envy. I think I figured out a few things while sitting on that porcelain throne.” 

Envy silently got to his feet.

After a moment of hesitation, the Elric brothers did the same. “We should go, too,” Alphonse said.

He looked over at his brother, who reluctantly agreed with another nod. Goodbyes were exchanged. Envy hoped the next time he saw them was when he was back in his own reality – if such a thing was possible. As he watched the two boys slip out into the hallway, he wondered what their stories could possibly be.

The door shut behind them.

“I heard some of that conversation,” Greed said.

Envy spun around, startled.

His brother raised his hands in mock surrender. “Calm down. I'm not going to ask – you've got your secrets. I've got mine. Just wanted to put it out there.” 

A relieved sigh left him. It was a comforting thought. Someone knowing he had secrets, but not actively trying to find them. “So what did you come up with, then? A direction for us to start searching in?”

“Better,” Greed answered, a grin beginning to dance across his lips. “I know why we're here. Think about it, Envy! Who else is here right now? Those kids told us. The other you is here. The new version of me is here. We've been brought to the same place our counterparts are!”

He had an incredibly eager look on his face, but Envy was unable to join in on his joy. Thinking of the many horrible things that could happen if Greed was right was terrifying. They could run into their counterparts. If they didn't, there was a high likelihood that their siblings would. They lacked the crucial information Greed and Envy had received from the Elric brothers. Without it, how could they know they were in another reality? Then there was the problem the newest addition to their family presented – if Greed had guessed correctly, then Wrath would be walking around Central right now. He could align with their counterparts in this reality. Or could he remain rogue, striking out at random in order to harm the siblings who had betrayed the ideals he had been raised on. 

They were in trouble, and Greed was too blind to see it.

His brother was already heading towards the door. Envy opened his mouth to speak, only to fall silent when he saw the look on his face. He had to trust Greed's judgment. He had been through just as much as he had been. Envy gave their hotel room one last glance before joining his brother by the door.

“I'm guessing you've figured out where someone is,” he said.

Greed continued to smile. “Ready to do some shopping, brother of mine? I don't think your jacket is going to cut it – Briggs is notoriously cold this time of year.”

“Only if I get to choose yours,” Envy shot back, smirking. “I don't think I could stand being seen with someone who has such a horrible sense of style.”

They looked at each other and laughed.

**~v~**

“Come on, Arthur! We're going to miss the train!”

Greed was impatiently waiting only feet away from the train in question; it had been the first one they were able to purchase tickets for, and he was apparently quite eager to leave Central. Envy had been pulled away by a handful of tourists who were in dire need of directions. Though he had been talking with them for nearly ten minutes, Greed had stubbornly stayed exactly where he was. His brother had always been childish, but he had forgotten just how much he acted like a kid.

“I hope that helps,” Envy said, giving the tourists a brief smile before joining Greed. He turned to his brother. “I'm ready.” 

He was scared of what they would discover in the north, but he felt an odd little thrill of excitement at the thought of spending more time with his sibling. It had been so long since they had gone on an adventure together. None had ever been as serious as this, but he still smiled at the thought of what would happen.

They stepped onto the train.

It was surprisingly difficult to find a place to sit. Both avoided any soldiers getting onto the train; Greed was supposed to be dead, and Envy had always had aversion to them. Take possibly being overheard into account, and suddenly they were also looking for a train car lacking people. They eventually found one to the back of the train. Greed wasted no time in lounging on the nearest seat. Envy, hiding a smile, took the one across from him.

“I wonder what the other me is like,” Greed absentmindedly asked. For someone who had been so eager to board the train, he had a surprisingly bored expression on his face as he looked at the rest of the train car. “He must have a rebellious streak in him – I doubt he'll stay with Father for too long.”

“Well, you do have a thing for teenage rebellions. Just look at your usual outfits,” Envy joked. He tried not to think about his counterpart, but his mind kept returning to _his_ other self. He was out there. Hurting others and following Father's every word. Did he envy the humans he encountered, too?

Greed gasped. “How you wound me! Is today insult my wardrobe day?” He raised a hand and pointed in his brother's direction. “And how dare you suggest that I have a terrible sense of fashion when the last time that coat was in style was last century!” 

Envy was ready to fire back with another insult about Greed's sense of style – or lack of, as he certainly didn't have one – but he was interrupted by the door to the train car sliding open. The two stared at each other with wide eyes. If someone had come this far back, it was because they had a reason to be there. No one would have randomly chosen this section of the train. The majority of the travelers were in the first two cars. Were they here because they wanted the secrecy the train car provided, or because they were searching for the homunculi?

“Did you say anything to those tourists?” Greed whispered.

“No!” Envy answered. “I just told them where the maps were.”

He heard two sets of footsteps. Small and relatively light, large and heavy – an odd pair, whoever they were. Neither Greed or Envy glanced in the directions of the people who had just entered. Accidentally meeting the newcomers' eyes would draw attention neither one of them wanted. One of them must have had automail; he could hear metal hitting the side of the seats.

“I can't wait to see the snow!” a boy cheerfully said.

A boy whose voice was _quite_ familiar. 

“Oh, fuc-”

Greed shot up with a start. “Yo! Elric brothers!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! 
> 
> Will Envy ever be fully rid of the Elric brothers? Will the homunculi ever get a sense of style? And just how did Greed figure out that there was a homunculus up North? Find out next time on Butterfly Effect!


	6. Chapter 6

When Edward caught a glimpse of who had called him over, confusion flickered across his face. Envy was admittedly a bit surprised himself. He thought they had gone their separate ways; to find the two brothers on the same train they were on was more than a little suspicious. But neither of Elrics pretended like they hadn't noticed Greed and Envy – in fact, Alphonse eagerly joined them. It took another minute for Edward to also walk over to where they were.

Alphonse sat down beside Greed, who had been quick to move over when he saw him approaching. “Hi, Gr-”

“Julius,” Envy corrected. “His name is Julius.”

Greed dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. “There's no one here besides us. We don't need to worry about names, En-”

“Arthur,” he interrupted. They may have currently been alone, but it was impossible to predict if someone would choose this train car later on. It was best to be prepared. If the Elric brothers were told that they were using their aliases, they would likely use them later on when other people entered the train car.

There was a sudden, jarring movement throughout the train. Edward wildly grabbed onto the corner of Envy's seat to keep his balance, but the worst of it had passed. The train had begun its slow departure from the station. Edward let go. But, much to Envy's dismay, he sat down in the seat beside him. He tried to ignore the boy next to him by looking out the window. The station was becoming little more than a blurred shape in the distance. His attempt to become distracted was short lived. Just as Edward opened his mouth to say something, the door to the car opened.

They all turned to see who had entered.

It was difficult to make out any defining details. The hood to his winter coat covered his hair, and the rest of his face was obscured by a larger, tattered newspaper. He had even positioned himself so his back was what faced the four the most; he knew he wasn't alone in the train car and was compensating because of it. He undoubtedly had something to hide. But what could it possibly be? And why would he want to hide it from them in particular? Was it because of the homunculi or the alchemists?

“So what you going to Briggs for, Julius?” Alphonse said. He looked over at Envy, who, after glancing in the direction of the newcomer, gave him a grateful smile.

“A brother of ours lives up there,” Greed answered, reclining back in his seat. 

It took a moment for Envy to realize that he still didn't know which sibling they were going to find. Saying that they were a brother ruled out Lust, but they still had several other siblings left. Was it Pride? Sloth? Gluttony? The first seemed unlikely; a kid wouldn't be alone. The second was a possibility, as well as the last. Yet he couldn't quite imagine Gluttony up there – his brother needed to be around people. Few people ventured up north, and only the hardiest people lived there. Food would also be an issue. 

“I remember you mentioning that,” Alphonse asked.

Beside Envy, Edward mirrored Greed's position. “I thought he moved?” He gave the two homunculi a pointed look. It was a look that would have gone unnoticed by their eerily silent listener. “Since you've been so disrupted with everything these last few days.”

The smile that danced across Greed's lips didn't reach his eyes. “He got a job with the military, I think. His letters were vague and he has trouble using the phone – his fingers are a bit too big. Arthur and I wanted to give him a surprise visit.” A large, exaggerated wink in Envy's direction, and he knew his guess had been correct.

They were looking for Sloth.

“I see,” Edward slowly said.

And then they settled into an uncomfortable silence, one where no one spoke out of the fear that the fifth member of their train car would somehow piece together the seemingly insignificant pieces of information. They stayed like that for the duration of the trip. Greed and Alphonse occasionally tried to start a conversation – both loved cats, apparently – but it would die as quickly as it had began.

**~v~**

The train finally pulled into the station. It felt like an eternity had passed in what had only been a short period of time, but Envy had hated every minute of the suffocating silence. The search for Sloth would be a welcome distraction from the horrible little thoughts about how doomed they were flooding his head. He went to get out of his seat. Then he paused, as the man on the other end of the car was also getting up. The newspaper dipped for just a few little seconds – a dark eye peered over at him, widening as the surprisingly middle-aged man hurriedly pulled the newspaper up higher than before. 

Greed and the Elric brothers stood up to leave as well, but the man had already rushed out of their car. Envy stared after him. And then, struck by a sudden urge to understand what he had just witnessed, Envy decided that there was only one course of action he could take.

“I'll meet you in town,” he told Greed.

He darted down the train after the man. The slight lapse between when the two had left easily put the stranger several feet away from him. If only he knew the man's name! If he had some idea of who he was, it would have been much easier to determine the reason he had been in the train car in the first place.

The man glanced over his shoulder.

Then he was pushing through the few people disembarking from the train, oddly refusing to put his newspaper down when it would have allowed him to slip through the group with ease. Envy stubbornly followed him. He took advantage of the path the man had created. They burst free from the train. They were only about a foot apart now. Just a little closer, and Envy could reach out his hand-

His quarry ducked into the first alleyway they passed. Envy tensed, prepared for the worst and dove in after him. It had been quite some time since he had last been involved in a fight. That should have been a daunting thing to realize, but he trusted his instincts and reflexes. He had been around for much longer than this man. Even when rusty, he could defeat a human.

But the man didn't attack him.

He stood to the back of the alleyway, still holding his old newspaper.

“Why are you following me?” he asked with a tired, defeated tone to his voice.

Now that they were standing so close, he could finally get a good look at the stranger. The only thing that stood out was the odd package he had slung over his back; long and thin, it looked almost like it was concealing a weapon of some sort. The paper wrapped around it was too thick for Envy to clearly make out what was hidden inside. 

“Because you were sitting in that train car,” Envy said. He shifted to get a better look at the weapon, but the man was having none of it. He backed even further into the alleyway. “Are you after the Elrics or my brother and I?” A smile, and a flash of teeth that were sharper than a human's should have been. “Choose what you say very carefully.”

The man straightened. “Anyone can sit in that car. I simply chose to sit there, just as you did.”

Envy had to admit that he was impressed; he had gone from a casual tone to a far colder one in a matter of seconds. But the argument itself was lacking. He must have had some reason to sit back there, and Envy was determined to discover exactly what. “My brother and I aren't people to be messed with,” he said. “You don't want us as your enemies, do you? Start talking now, and I might reconsider what I was planning to do to you.”

He took a step closer to the man.

Whose hand, in turn, went for the package.

The man somehow managed to keep the newspaper in front of his face, a comical yet noteworthy feat that he didn't understand. Why was he so determined to keep his identity hidden? “I tend to attract attention easily, and wished to remain out of public view. That car was the best I could with my limited funds. Is that good enough for you?”

“I suppose,” Envy said. He crossed his arms.

“Good.” 

The man walked briskly by him, their shoulders momentarily bumping together before he disappeared into the street. Envy left the alleyway to see where he was heading. Several feet away from him, the man came to an abrupt stop. “I hope you're not thinking of following me. I also have my hidden strengths, _Arthur_.”

Envy stared dumbly after him.

“Find anything out?”

Hands balled into fists, he spun around to see Greed standing behind him. His brother held up his hands in mock surrender. Giving one final glance in the stranger's direction, Envy slowly returned his arms to his side. 

“I'm guessing that's a no?” Greed surmised.

He managed a nod. “I think I might have made an enemy,” he said. Greed seemed unfazed by the possible threat, but, as he had noticed during the last few dangerous encounters, Greed rarely seemed fazed by anything these days.

“Bread?”

“ _What?_ ”

“Want some bread?” Greed dug around in his pockets and pulled out a small item wrapped in cloth. Steam wafted from the bread when he unfurled the cloth. He broke it into two chunks – a noticeably larger one for himself and a smaller one for his brother. 

After a moment of hesitation, Envy took the one that was offered to him. He stared down at it, and then up at Greed. “Why do you have a loaf of bread?”

He shrugged. “I went into the general store for booze and directions, and I met a kid there. Girl was trying to get some food but didn't have the money.” He took a large bite into the bread. “She wouldn't take anything I gave her until I convinced her I wanted to get food myself.” 

Envy hid his smile as he looked in the direction of the store; he could see the silhouette of the girl as she walked off into the distance. Then he turned his attention back to his brother. They had some searching to do, and he had a question he needed an answer for. “What happened to the Elrics?” 

“They went onto the fortress. Said they needed to talk to a general, or something? They didn't go into much specifics-Why are you looking at my coat?”

Envy blinked. “Your-your pocket moved.”

“It _what_?”

“It moved,” Envy said. 

It hadn't moved by much, but there had undoubtedly been a shift from within it. He cautiously approached the pocket in question. Stuffing his uneaten bread into his own pocket, he reached a hand out. Greed didn't stop him. Before whatever it was could realize that he was there, Envy thrust his hand into the pocket and grabbed the offending thing.

Then nearly dropped said thing, which promptly bit into his fingers upon being roughly handled by a stranger. He swore words he rarely said as he frantically tried to get the stubborn creature off of his finger – it hurt so badly! And Greed, the bastard, was laughing at the whole spectacle.

“Julius,” Envy growled, gritting his teeth together, “why the hell did you have a _panda_ in your coat?”

“Oh, that's what it is? I thought it was just a weird cat.”

“In what way does this little devil look like a cat-Ow! Stop that, you heartless monster!”

Greed shrugged. “Its the girl's pet. Must have snuck in there to find food or warmth – you know, you seem like you're _really_ enjoying its company.”

He glowered at him.

For the second time in the past five minutes, Greed raised his hands in surrender. “We'll go find that girl and give her back her panda, alright? Although I think it might be sad to lose its new friend~” 

His brother smirked. Envy decided right then and there that he would reap some sort of revenge on Greed. It was just a matter of deciding how. The opportunity would inevitably present himself and he would waste no time in taking it.

But, for the moment, he needed to find that girl and get rid of her pesky panda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a deviation from what I usually say here, but I just want to thank all of you wonderful readers for being so supportive of my fic. I've never had a story with this many bookmarks, kudos or comments. Seeing your comments about how much you enjoy my story or another kudo really inspires me to continue writing this story. I've never felt this way about one of my fics before, and I think that I might be able to finish this story thanks to how kind you're all being.
> 
> Thank you all for being such wonderful people!


	7. Chapter 7

Envy supposed it could be worse. Having to search for a little girl was not what he had come here to do, but the thin layer of snow on the ground provided the perfect way to track her. All they had to do was the trail of small, light footprints. It took some time to initially sort them out from the rest of the footprints in the street, but, once they did so, they were quickly bridging the distance between the girl and themselves.

There was still the nagging pain of the panda biting into his fingers with its surprisingly sharp teeth (weren't they herbivores?) but it had dulled the longer it was clinging to him. Seeing him with it chewing on his finger was certainly an odd sight for the people they passed in the street. Still, there seemed to be little to no chance of it letting go soon. He just had to deal with the pain and strange looks until they found that girl.

The tracks eventually led them outside of the town. Greed and Envy exchanged intrigued looks before continuing on; what was the girl doing in the wilderness? Every time Envy thought they were finally going to run into her, they discovered another set of her tracks that led farther away from the town. From the way her the weight was distributed in her footprints, Envy suspected that she was moving fairly quickly. And to be moving at such a consistent, fast speed...

“Julius?” he questioned.

Greed popped his head up. “Yeah?”

“What was that girl like?” He pointed at the tracks. “Look how fast she's going – she's been going at that speed since she left. I know kids are supposed to have freakishly high stamina, but isn't this a little unusual? I think we should be prepared for the worst.”

He waved the suggestion off with a dismissive gesture. “She's just a kid, Envy. Kids are like that. Back when Edward and Alphonse hung out at Izumi's place, the two of them were practically climbing the walls.” 

“And now one's a state alchemist,” Envy muttered. Why had he even tried? He went back to studying the footprints, but his suspicions were only further confirmed by what he saw. That girl was going just as strong as she had been when she had started. Even if Greed thought that it was normal, Envy was sure that he was onto something. 

He glanced over at Greed.

“I'm going to start running after her,” he said.

Greed shrugged. “Go for it. I'm good with the pace we're going at. See you wherever she is, then?”

He gave a nod, albeit a distracted one. 

Then he was running through the forest, weaving between trees that abruptly appeared in his path. It felt good to let everything free; being confined in the streets of Central had limited his ability to run. This was the first time in decades that he was able to tap into the power within him. The stamina of a homunculus was unrivaled by even the most athletic of humans.

At some point during his chase, the panda noticed how easily it could fall off his finger and resorted to hugging his hand instead of actively trying to bite it. It was still irritating as all hell, but he preferred it over the feeling of his skin splitting open.

The woods suddenly opened up onto a clearing of sorts. Trees surrounded two sides of the area, but the expanse before him was large. A hill rose out of the snow. When he looked closer, he saw that there was a cabin perched on the top of the hill – and, from the looks of it, it was occupied. He could see the light of a candle flickering in the window.

He cautiously approached the door.

After a moment of hesitation, he raised his hand and knocked.

Two people talked quietly inside the cabin, their voices frantic as he continued to wait. It took another minute for them to come to a consensus. One of them approached the door. From the sound of their footsteps, the person wasn't the one that the girl they were looking for. That meant she had to be the _other_ person in the cabin, the one who was staying to the back.

The door opened.

A man peered out. Envy tried his best not to stare, but it was hard not to – his face was incredibly deformed. He had never seen anything like it; it almost seemed like someone had used alchemy to change the structure of his face, but something like that would have been absurd. 

“Why are you here?” he asked, his voice wary.

Envy held up the hand that the panda was still clinging to. He gave it a strong shake, but it stubbornly to hold onto him. “There's a girl in there, right? I have her pet-”

“Xiao Mei!” 

A small child came barreling out of the cabin, her braided hair flying behind her. She came to a sudden stop in front of Envy. Without giving him so much as a word of gratitude, she grabbed the panda and held it close to her chest. 

A sound that was akin to a whimper left the now trembling panda. Envy gave it a pointed look, but the reaction only worsened. It looked as if he had terrorized it in the short time he had been stuck with him. Which was entirely wrong. If anything, he had been the one who had suffered a great injustice. He was quite eager to make that clear.

But then the girl looked from the panda to him.

“What did you do to Xiao Mei?” she demanded, glaring at him as her grip on the panda tightened.

“I didn't do anything,” he protested. When she continued to glare at him, he hurriedly added, “Your panda was the one who bit me! I just tried getting it off.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You hurt her, didn't you?”

“Didn't you hear what I just said-”

The action was so quick that he almost missed it. She withdrew a dagger from the depths of her clothes and thrust in his direction with a surprising amount of precision. His reflexes kicked in before any serious wounds could be received – he jumped back as far as he can manage in the short time he was given to react. But when he felt cold air brushing against bare skin on his leg, it became clear that he hadn't completely avoided the attack.

“Mei,” the man reprimanded. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. “He was just returning Xiao Mei. From the cuts on his hand, he's telling the truth-”

He stopped, eyes widening as he stared at Envy's leg.

Envy quickly looked down. There it was; peering out from the cut on his thigh was his normally hidden Ouroboros tattoo. He covered it with his hand. But the damage had been done, and the man was trying to usher the girl and her panda away from him with a discreet movement of his hand.

“You're Envy,” the man said.

The girl looked wildly between the two.

He studied the man's face for a second time. Had _he_ been the one who was responsible for that? He couldn't use alchemy and doubted his counterpart had suddenly gained the ability to. But why else would he be giving him such a terrified look? 

The girl tilted her head. “He doesn't look like him.”

“I recognize that Ouroboros tattoo,” the man insisted. “His is on his thigh.”

His stomach twisted and churned. God, why here? Why _now_? He had hoped to escape whatever legacy his counterpart had in Central. That was why he had been so eager to leave with Greed, despite knowing close to nothing about who they were going to see or where Greed expected to find them. He needed time to process everything. To get away from the looks Edward gave him when he thought he wasn't looking. To get away from how Alphonse avoided him and went near his brother instead. To get away from the fear that he'd run into the monster that he had somehow become. 

And how could he explain it now? How could he convince this man and girl that he wasn't who they thought he was? They would never believe him if he said he was from another reality where he had never become evil; if that man's looks were anything to go off of, he had done horrible things to both of them.

“I'm Envy,” he confirmed. The name – _his_ name – felt disgusting as it rolled off of his tongue. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and tried to push away the thoughts slipping uninvited into his mind. “I don't remember you or that girl. I just came to return that panda

The man furrowed his brow. Studied him. Envy wanted to shy away from the looks, but he stood his ground and watched him with a confidence he didn't feel. The girl quickly followed suit. It hurt _so_ much to see the way they were investigating every part of his appearance, trying to match him up with a version of himself that should have never existed.

“You really don't recognize me?” the man said, incredulously. He raised a hand up and gingerly touched his deformed face. Envy hurriedly glanced away. What had he done to this poor man? _Why_ had he done it? 

“I don't,” he said. 

“Dr. Marcoh,” the girl frantically whispered, tugging on his sleeve. “His chi isn't right. It's-it's larger. Larger than it should be for him – it was a lot smaller the last time I saw him!” 

The name took a moment to register. Then it finally sunk in, and he balked at the sight of the man across from him. He couldn't be _him_ , could he? But the more he studied his face, the more apparent it became. This man was Tim Marcoh, doctor who had once lived in Central and mysteriously disappeared after the war. He had been his neighbor for countless years prior to the war in Ishval. Tim was a good person, but one who never strayed into dangerous things. He rarely took risks. What would someone like his other self want with Tim? 

He knew he couldn't tell the truth. Not now, not when they were both so terrified of his counterpart. He would have to keep things under control until he found a moment to leave the situation. He'd meet up with Greed and they'd find a room in a hotel. And then he could slip into the bathroom, lock the door and let out all of the tears he was just barely holding back now.

“Ah, Marcoh,” he said. “I remember you now.”

The man tensed.

He pointed at the girl. “I still don't know who she is. Mei something, I think?” It was a relief that Tim had mentioned her first name. It made it seem like he had some semblance of an idea of who she was.

“Mei Chang,” the girl answered. She looked from Marcoh to Envy, struggling to determine what to say next. “But you should know that – you were then when they put that-that Philosopher's stone in Ling and Greed-”

“You called?” a voice suddenly said from the forest. 

Hoping that he had been hearing things, he spun around to see who had spoken. His brother strolled over to the three with a casual air. When he finally reached Envy's side, he snapped his fingers and pointed at Mei. “Hey! You're that kid we were looking for. Looks like my brother gave you the panda back-”

Of _course_ he had to show up now. 

“You're Greed?” Mei asked. “But I thought-I thought...”

Envy crossed his arms.

His brother nervously looked between the two.

“Oh, you were talking about the _other_ Greed, weren't you?”

Envy groaned.

**~v~**

It was difficult to keep up with her when he had to rely solely on the body of human child; her gait was much larger and faster. But what he lacked in size he had in endurance. Short little bursts of speed accounted for the temporary gaps between them. As it was the normal thing for a child to do, he had no qualms about the process. He studied her as he struggled to keep up. She kept a neutral expression on her face as they entered the town. A casual nod to a person passing them by and the occasional polite hello. When some seemed startled by the presence of the beautiful young woman, worry briefly flickered across her face. She must have lived her. Or, at the very least, she came here often.

“Solaris?” he innocently asked, looking up at her with big brown eyes. He slipped his hand into hers when he caught up with her once more. “Where are we going?”

She smiled. He was taken aback by the joy contained within that grin. The way her eyes turned up, the way her (perfect) white teeth shone, the way she looked towards the general store on the horizon. She had found something here. Something to smile about, and something worth living for. Was it a person or a place?

“We're going to see someone very special,” she said.

He nodded. They were pretending to be normal siblings, and he was certain the boy he was meant to be would have known who that special person was. He was itching with an impatient curiosity. He wasn't fond of surprises. At least, that was what would he would say; in actuality, he was a child at heart. Age had not deterred his childlike desire for knowledge.

They finally reached the shop. His eyes lingered on the candies, but his sister was already heading towards the back of the shop. There was an area sectioned off by a door – it was her apparent destination. Rushing to catch up to her, he raised a finger and pointed at it. “I don't think we can go in there.”

She winked. “I know someone-”

The door abruptly opened. The two siblings took startled steps back, though his was a bit more frantic than hers. He would never deny it later, but he had been completely frightened by the sudden noise. As soon as he had adjusted to the noise, he began to smell smoke. Whoever was about to enter the main shop was a smoker.

The man who left the backroom was an intriguing man. He had muscles befitting of someone who frequently exercised or was involved in the military, but was sitting in the middle of a wheelchair. He had a cigarette in his mouth as he surveyed the two visitors with hardened eyes. A solider, likely, and one who had been injured in battle.

“Hello,” his sister started. She took a step forward. Then she hesitated, noting the horrified look that flickered across his face at the sound of her voice. “Jean, what's wrong?”

It only took a second for the former soldier to draw a gun, and even less time for him to point it right where her philosopher's stone would be. 

“You should be dead,” he said. “Roy said he killed you.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More on the adventures of our protagonists, and a little bit on what's been happening with Pride and Lust. I meant to include the information about that second pair in the previous chapter, but it just didn't have a good time to slip in. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and please let me know what you think in the comments!


	8. Chapter 8

“If I'm understanding this correctly, the two of you are from another reality and are _good_?” 

They had been reluctantly brought inside the cabin. Though neither Tim or Mei had wanted to deal with two homunculi in an enclosed space, it was growing too cold and dark outside to explain things there. The two of them were sitting upon the floor. Greed was sitting a short distance away, a neutral expression on his face as he listened to what Tim asked. And Envy, who just wanted to leave as quickly as possible, had been anxiously pacing around the cabin.

“Basically,” Greed confirmed with a shrug.

Tim sighed, as if his part of this whole experience was somehow worse than what Envy had been going through since he had woken up in this godforsaken reality. “That sounds impossible.” He cast a furtive glance in Envy's direction. “Although he does seem to have forgotten who we are, and what you're saying would explain why.”

“But Envy said he remembered us,” Mei piped up. Her fear seemed to have disappeared when she realized she was in no immediate danger, and she no longer held her devilish little panda close to her chest. It was sitting nearby, oddly as involved in the conversation as Mei was.

Envy stared out the window at the darkening sky. “I was lying.”

Silence.

He gave a sigh of his own and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “You'd never believe me if I told the truth, alright? So I lied. I would have kept it up if Greed hadn't come. Ti-Dr. Marcoh said your name earlier, and I went off of that. I'm sure the doctor picked up on it. He seems like a smart man.” 

When he was met with more silence, he risked a glance behind him. Greed and Tim were both studying him, though his brother was doing a much better job of hiding it. Mei and her panda remained oblivious. They both watched Tim in the hopes that he would continue the conversation. When no one spoke, Envy took it as their cue to leave. He gestured for his brother to follow him and started to head towards the door.

“You should stay here tonight.”

He turned to stare at Tim.

“The woods are dangerous, even for a homunculus. And I'm certain the people in the town would think suspiciously of two strangers who wander into the inn so late at night,” the doctor elaborated, rising to his feet and heading towards the door. Before he could reach it, however, Greed stood up and placed his hand on his shoulder.

He gave him a lazy smile. “We appreciate the offer, but Envy and I have some business we need to attend to up here.” A pat on the shoulder and a brief wave at Mei, and Greed had joined him by the door.

They slipped out into the night.

When they reached the forest bordering the area the cabin was in, he could feel his vision start to blur. He hurried on ahead. Ducking his head down in an attempt to hide the tears already beginning to roll down his trembling cheeks, he ignored Greed calling his name. 

“Envy, wait!” he shouted. 

“Let's just find Sloth, alright?” he said. “Then we can leave this annoying cold weather behind and search for our other siblings-”

With a surprising burst of speed, Greed was suddenly standing in front of him. Envy tried to skirt around him, but his brother stuck his arms out to prevent him from doing so. Unable to get out of the confrontation, he dug his feet into the ground and stubbornly refused to look up at him when he started talking.

Greed sighed. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Pretending that you're not crying.” He started to protest, but was cut off before even a sound could be uttered. “You literally have a snot bubble coming out of your nose, so shut your mouth and listen to me, alright? And actually look up at me.”

Giving him a brief glare, Envy did as he was asked to.

“Good. I'm not sure if I'm doing this whole sibling thing right, but let me say this as eloquently as possible. Envy, you're being an idiot.”

He straightened at the insult. Already upset at what had just happened, the comment only served to further irritate him. He crossed his arms and glared at his brother. “How the hell am I being an idiot?” 

“By ignoring me!”

A pause. And then Envy, bristling with anger at the answer, scoffed, “I though Pride was supposed to be the one of us with the big ego.”

“Not like that,” Greed corrected with a groan. He placed his hands on Envy's shoulders and looked him in the eye. The sudden intimacy made him want to squirm with discomfort; he hated how it allowed his brother to so easily read him. “I've been waiting since we met up in this reality for you to open up to me. You know how hard that is? You've always hated when people ask you how you're feeling, but you're also a stubborn pain in the ass who can't admit that he's hurting. I didn't want to pressure you. So I waited for you to say _something_ but all you've been talking about is the things we need to do. And now you're crying and I can't just stand here and pretend I don't see it, damn it!”

He actually _looked_ at his brother now; studied how his eyebrows were furrowed in concern, how the worry peeked out from behind his sunglasses and how the hands that were holding onto his shoulders were trembling as much as he was. He wondered how much Greed had picked up on in the short time they had been together. He must have noticed what had happened with Tim, as he had been the one to usher him out of them. But what about before, with the Elrics? Had he noticed how he felt then, or was now the first time that his hurt had been so obvious? Did that even really matter, if Greed was able to notice it so easily? 

He took a deep breath.

“Tim shouldn't look like that,” Envy admitted.

Greed removed his hands. “Tim?”

“Dr. Marcoh.” Another deep breath. It was hard to talk about something like this when he had kept to himself for so long. “We were neighbors for awhile. He left to serve as a doctor in Ishval and I never saw him again...His face was different, then. Unblemished. I don't think being in a different reality would change the face someone was born with. Someone must have done something to him. And from the way that he was looking at me when he figured out who I was? I think it might have been me.”

Greed's expression softened. “Shit. No wonder you wanted to get out of there.” He glanced back in the direction of the cabin. “But I don't think it was you.”

He laughed. It was a pitiful, broken sound that made his brother's face darken, but he told himself that he didn't care. “Remember what Edward and Alphonse told us? I'm a horrible person. I could do something like that.” 

“First off, the Envy here isn't you, just like the Greed here will _never_ be me.” He gave him a poke in the chest, right where his current form's heart was. “And those wounds weren't normal. You know that as well as I do. They look like they came from something else – something like alchemy. You can't use alchemy, the last time I checked.”

“...I can't,” he confirmed.

Greed grinned. “See? I bet you feel better already.”

“I guess...” He still felt like it was somehow his fault, though he only had the way that Tim touched his face when he realized who he was as evidence. But Greed was right; talking about it made it feel like a weight had been taken off of his chest.

**~v~**

The strange accusation rang out through the little general store as the boy tried to understand the conversation at hand; someone his sister cared about thought she had died, and was oddly upset by the fact that she hadn't. It made absolutely no sense no matter how he tried to wrap his head around it. But even if he didn't understand that, he understood the threat that the gun posed.

So the seemingly young child glared up at Jean. And, almost immediately, shadows shot free from underneath his little feet and blanketed the walls of the general store. The man simply furrowed his brow in response – though the hand holding his gun began to shake. 

“Shoot her and I'll attack you,” the boy threatened. A chill ran up his spine at the sound of his own voice. No matter how frequently he used it, it still remained eerie and unnatural even to him. He wished that he didn't have to resort to threats, but his little sister could get hurt if he didn't do something.

She rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze. Her nails briefly elongated. The feeling of them digging into his skin caused him to wince, but the shadows remained. The bullet would likely be stopped by her skin. But if it strayed so much as to her heart or her head, the stone would automatically react by healing her injury. A soul would be lost to something that could have been prevented. Wasn't it his duty to prevent such a thing from occurring?

“Pride,” she hissed, “calm down.” 

He looked over at her hand.

It was shaking.

The shadows retracted. He gave the man one final glare before adopting a neutral expression akin to the one his sister had when they were walking to the general store. 

She took a step back from the man.

“You know,” she said.

Jean stared at her.

Resting her hand over her philosopher's stone, she repeated the phrase. “You know.” The words that had failed to register finally made sense, and the man hesitantly nodded. Grief overwhelmed her. She tried to keep her face unreadable, but he could see the torment in her eyes. “Was our time together a lie, Jean?”

She spat out his name like it was poison on her tongue.

“That was what you said in the Third Laboratory,” Jean said. The gun was slowly returned to its original location, its owner watching her with confusion. 

The terminology was unfamiliar to Pride, and, from the lack of a response on his sister's part, unfamiliar to Lust. Whatever the case was, he didn't trust this soldier. Anyone connected to the military was dangerous. And if that wasn't a blanket rule for the government as a whole, his story not matching hers was a cause for suspicion. 

Although one thing seemed to ring true in both accounts.

“You were dating,” Pride said.

They looked at him.

And that look in the soldier's eyes – that pained, hurt look made him realize that something was _very_ wrong. His sister was certainly heartbroken. Though this man, if the conversation was anything to go off of, should have been a liar, he seemed just as heartbroken as the woman across from him.

“When and how did it end?”

Lust and Jean turned to stare at each other.

“Not long ago,” Jean said, his voice quiet. “When Lust attacked us, she said that our time together was a way to gather intelligence on Ro-the colonel. Then she-she died. Her stone was destroyed.”

She frantically shook her head. “You're lying.”

“I'm not-”

“You have to be lying!” Lust shouted. She took another step forward, her face switching from anger to distress in a matter of seconds. “Jean, we both have our secrets. We both made that clear from our first date. But I love every moment that I spend with you. What we have is something special – and I've met many men and women. Not a single one of them was like you.”

He looked away.

“Believe me. _Please_.”

The soldier sighed, a heavy and dreary sound. “I don't think I can.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! If I can figure out a good way to start off both sections, the story will temporarily diverge to some other characters in the next chapter - a certain flame alchemist, and the mysterious man from the train. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and see you in the next one!


	9. Chapter 9

Roy hadn't been having a good day. He hadn't been having a good week, or a good month, or, one could argue, even a good year.

But he had adjusted. Time was a gift, when given enough of it. His life had slipped into a monotone pattern of waking up, remembering all that had gone wrong, and pretending that he was perfectly fine. The few constants in his life had been taken from him. Even seeing Riza now for a casual chat would be considered dangerous; it was impossible to tell when they were being watched and to what extent. Yet, when comparing a horrible year to a horrible day, the latter was the one that would be a greater cause for irritation.

His car had broken down, he had a massive headache-inducing pile of paperwork at work and he had barely been able to fall asleep the night before. The Elric brothers were gone on another journey and he couldn't shake the fear that something terrible was going to happen to them in the short time they would be gone. Not a single good thing had happened to him over the course of the day; if one had miraculously occurred, it had escaped his notice.

So he was far from thrilled to discover that someone had broken into his home.

The door was swinging on its hinges. Roy's tired and frustrated mind was able to piece together that whoever had entered had a fair amount of brute force, and was likely still inside from the light that was filtering through the open door. But that same mind didn't think that he should try finding some sort of backup before investigating further. He just wanted the day to be over with. The next day would likely be just as terrible, but he needed to cling to a little hope if he wanted to get through the week.

He stepped inside his apartment.

There was movement from the kitchen. He quietly made his way over to the area in question, ready to defend himself against whoever had invaded his home. It was only when he peered around the corner to see Gluttony – of all people – staring wistfully up at his refrigerator that he realized he was undoubtedly screwed. 

Roy pressed himself back up against the wall and tried to think of who he could call for help. Riza was out of the question. Armstrong was a possibility, but only if he grew especially desperate. Fullmetal and his brother were in a completely different part of the country. Whoever he was going to go to, he had to decide soon. Gluttony had an extremely good sense of smell, and would likely notice him any moment now-

He heard Gluttony start to move towards him.

_Crap._

He started to turn, ready to attack him with his flame alchemy. But then reality hit him, and he lowered his hand. Other people lived in the complex. He couldn't put their lives at stake to save his own life, though fire was perhaps his best defense at the moment. 

The moment of hesitation gave Gluttony enough time to turn the corner.

He had a finger up to his mouth, and an almost childlike expression on his face. There was none of the rage he had possessed during their last encounter. He seemed oddly lost, nervously glancing around the room and at Roy as he furrowed his brow. “Sister said go to you,” Gluttony said. He paused, looked around for a bit and then back at Roy. “Followed scent here.”

Roy was at a loss for words.

He tried to understand what he had just heard. Gluttony no longer wanted to kill him, was given orders by a dead homunculus (his sister must have been Lust) and was now standing in his apartment acting like it was a completely normal thing to do. There was no way to explain this encounter. The more he tried to, the more confused he became.

The silence persisted. Gluttony was looking expectantly at him, as if he somehow expected him to know what he was supposed to do next. “Why were you supposed to find me?” Had he gone too far? Was that it? The last thing he remembered doing was passing that message on about Mei to Armstrong, but that shouldn't have warranted such a drastic action on the part of the homunculi.

Gluttony thought for a second.

“Safe with you,” he said. “Jean not in Central.”

Any worry for his own life was discarded when the homunculus uttered the name. Jean. Jean was in trouble, and he was the only one who could do something to stop it. He started to make a beeline for his phone, Gluttony trailing after him, but stopped when he realized the line was probably bugged. He needed a safer approach – a payphone, or a direct visit to his house. He had to convey that he was in some sort of trouble.

The phone rang.

Gluttony stared at the source of the sound. “Sister?”

“Unlikely,” Roy dryly replied. He finished the short walk to the phone and picked it up. An oddly familiar woman was reprimanding a boy in the background. Gluttony inched over to where he was and tried to listen to the call, but Roy pulled the phone away from him. And then a man spoke, and the sound of his voice made Roy almost drop the phone in surprise.

“Hey, Roy,” Jean Havoc said.

He tried to keep his voice calm. It was far from an easy feat, but he somehow managed to do exactly that. “Hey, Jean.”

“Just calling to see how things were doing over in Central.”

He glanced at the homunculus beside him, who was now grinning as he looked up at Roy. “As good as they'll ever be here. It must be relaxing to be in that little farm town of yours – though you never know when things will get interesting out there.”

There was silence on his former subordinate's part. Then Jean moved away from the phone momentarily to quiet the two other people in his shop, who seemed oblivious to the conversation. The two did as asked, and Jean returned to the phone. “Now that you have me thinking about it, we did receive a strange shipment the other day. Alchemy supplies, though I've never seen anything like them. You should come out here and give them a look, Roy. I'd send them over to you, but I don't want them to be damaged when being transported.” 

“I could use a vacation,” Roy mused, glancing once more in Gluttony's direction. He could _especially_ use one now. “I'll convince my superiors to let me go for a week or two.” 

They wished each other goodbye for the time being, and he turned his attention back to the small homunculus beside him. Gluttony was still watching him with that innocent expression. It was like looking at a kid; now that he thought about it, Gluttony acted almost exactly like a child did. He must have seen Lust as a caregiver of sorts. His rage in their previous meeting suddenly made far more sense when he took that into account.

“Going to Jean?” Gluttony said.

Roy hesitated, then nodded.

He perked up. “Sister there?”

He started to give what should have been the obvious answer, but paused upon recalling the woman's voice that he had heard on the phone. That voice had been uncannily familiar. He must have heard somewhere before, and he, when he remembered what Jean had said about the “strange shipment”, he came to a startling conclusion.

“She is,” he slowly said. But how could Lust possibly be alive?

Gluttony, oblivious to Roy's plight, grinned from ear to ear.

**~v~**

His limbs felt heavy as he trekked through the forest. He was searching for something that simply wasn't there; a cabin that he had built with his own two hands that had mysteriously vanished in a matter of hours. His memories were a confusing blur. His last clear one prior to waking up near Fort Briggs was venturing into town for a new lantern. He must have arrived there, as he was holding a new lantern in his hands in this very moment. Yet he couldn't recall purchasing it, nor how he had ended up in an entirely different direction than he should have been in.

Night would soon fall, but he was no closer to finding where his cabin had gone than he had been when he began that morning. His eyelids drooped as he fought off his desire to sleep. He could survive a night without shelter, but it would invite unwanted questions if someone saw that he had survived a night in the north without a roof over his head.

He approached a brief break in the forest. Though he had lived in the north for many years, it was not impossible for him to become lost. It had happened before. This may have been one of those times, despite the disturbing lapse in memory. His cabin could very well be in the area before him.

He stepped out into the clearing.

His cabin was nowhere to be found. He let out a heavy sigh and was about to slowly continue on his way, but then he noticed the man on the other side of the clearing. 

His back hunched over, it appeared that he was searching for something. His frustration seemed to grow with each passing second when he didn't find whatever he sought. He sighed. Muttered to himself. Gave the snow in front of him an angry kick. When that failed, he turned around and began to storm across the clearing – only to stop when he saw that he wasn't alone. The man stared at him with a single wide eye.

Neither one of them spoke.

He had never been good at interacting with other people, as it had taken him quite a long time to understand the root of what made him different. By the time he finally had a good grasp on why he acted the way he did, he was isolated in the north. Few people would interact with someone of his stature if they knew nothing about him. This man was likely just the same as the people that had become before him, so terrified that he had become mute out of fear.

“I'm looking for my cabin,” he said.

The fear subsided, and the man studied him with interest in his singular eye. He took a step forward, hesitated and fell back to his original position. “Are you lost?”

“Possibly,” he said. It was the most logical explanation for his cabin's disappearance, but it somehow felt wrong – as if he knew that it was the cabin that had changed locations and not himself. “My cabin is small, and should be in a clearing like this one.”

It was after he finished speaking that it clicked. The man had never been afraid of him. If he had, he wouldn't have been so willing to engage in a conversation. Something else must have been the reason for his fear, but he couldn't even begin to understand what.

“I see,” the man said.

He hesitated. “Why are you out here?”

“Like you, I was searching.” He glanced around the clearing and sighed. “But I can't seem to find something I was looking for. I will admit that I'm not sure what that something is. If I did know, I would offer to help you find your cabin if you did the same for me.”

Then an uncomfortable silence fell upon the two. He distracted himself by watching the trees that lined the edge of the clearing, hoping that the man would continue to carry the conversation. In turn, the man began to approach him. He looked away from the trees and waited for the man to speak. 

“Do you recognize me?”

“No.”

Now the man was studying him, an intrigued glint to his eye as he took in the behemoth of a man across from him. A horrible, sinking feeling settled in his gut. He had no reason to recognize this man – save for a single one that he desperately hoped wasn't true. He had done such a good job of hiding all of these years. He had rarely ventured into town and only said what was necessary to its inhabitants. A please, a thank you and a goodbye. He never engaged in small talk. How could he have possibly been tracked down by _his_ men? 

“Interesting,” the man said. The combination of the single word and the tone of his voice made a chill run up his spine. 

He studied him for another minute, tilting his head slightly to the side as he did so. It was while he was waiting for the man to continue that he noticed that he was carrying an interesting package. Long and thin, it almost looked as if it could have been a sword of some sort...

“This might sound a bit odd, but did you wake up somewhere you shouldn't have been?”

How did he-?

The man began to pace around the clearing, once again searching for _something_. He occasionally glanced down at the ground, but his gaze remained on him. “I should have been in the north, but I found myself in Central several days ago. I came back here to understand what had happened.”

“I woke up near Fort Briggs,” he hesitantly said. His previous feeling of unease subsided and was replaced by a much sinister version of him; he was beginning to suspect that he had been a part of something terrible in the time he didn't remember. He couldn't explain the feeling, but he was somehow certain that it was correct. He nervously held up his lantern.“I should have been in the town, purchasing this.”

The man thought for a moment. “I think we might have been involved in the same thing.” He held out a trembling hand. Not trembling because of fear, but of some sort of rage – he could see it in the cool glint to the man's eye. Noting how his gaze lingered on the hand, the man took a sudden deep breath. The trembling ceased and the look abruptly disappeared. “My name is Reyes Eberhardt. I propose that we make an alliance of sorts: figure out what has happened to us, and then make things the way that they should be.” 

“The way they should be?” he questioned.

A troubled expression flickered across Reyes' face. “Whatever happened to us drastically changed the world. I'm not sure how or why, but things are not the way they should be.”

He knew that Reyes was hiding something, but he was no different. And if what he was saying was the truth, he needed to piece together what had happened to him. Reyes was currently best shot at that. He had to trust him.

At least, he had to for now.

He grabbed his hand and gave it a strong shake. “Hugo. Hugo Meyer.” It had been quite some time since he had uttered that name, but it was the first one that had come to his mind. “Do you have a plan, Reyes?”

Reyes smiled. “I was thinking of going to Resembool.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a busy week ahead of me, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to update as frequently as I have been. But I'll try my best to write up some interesting new things, so keep your eyes out for that! I hope you enjoyed this brief little excursion into Roy and Hugo's lives - both will be showing up more in the future chapters, as well as Reyes.


	10. Chapter 10

They spent the rest of the night searching for their brother. 

Initially hopeful that they would find him, their survey of the woods left them with nothing. If Greed had been right in his guess, Sloth should have been _somewhere_ among the trees and wildlife. He had always preferred them to people, and staying within the town was too dangerous. Military frequently passed through it to get to Fort Briggs. The risk of being discovered by any of the soldiers who entered the town was too high; even Greed would have avoided it. 

Envy set his face into a frustrated scowl. Dawn was breaking, and they were both losing their motivation to continue their search. He still didn't know why Greed had thought Sloth would be up here in this reality as well, but he was too tired to ask. He just wanted something. Even a little hint would have been good enough!

Greed suddenly came to an abrupt halt. 

Envy, who had been right behind him, bumped into his brother. He groaned and uttered several unpleasant swear words, but Greed was completely ignoring him. He had crouched down. Now he was staring at the ground in front of him, tentatively reach a hand out to poke something only inches away.

“Envy, we're idiots.”

He looked down. 

The sun's early morning rays fell upon the section of the forest they were in, revealing something that had been hidden by the darkness of the night – a trail of footprints that they had been carelessly trampling for who knows how long. Two pairs, walking side by side. One person had normal feet. The second set of footprints belonged to a very different person. They were enormous, at least double the size of Envy's current feet.

“We found Sloth,” Greed said, a grin beginning to appear.

Envy pointed at the other set of footprints. “But someone found him first.” He glanced over at his brother. “Gluttony would have a shorter distance between his steps. Lust and Pride have smaller feet. He can't be with any of our other siblings.”

Greed met his eyes, then stared down at the tracks. “So who could he be with? He would never trust someone unless it was one of us – hell, he wouldn't do anything on his own unless we forced him to! They must have roped him into going to somewhere, but I don't know how or why.”

“Well,” he quietly said, “at least we know the where.”

Greed followed his gaze.

Less than a mile away, the chimneys of the town peeked out of the trees, smoke curling out of them with renewed vigor as the now awake townspeople rekindled their fires. And, to both of their horror, the footprints were heading right to the town. Whoever was with Sloth had convinced him to do the inconceivable. Envy could only hope that his mysterious companion had made the right choice.

**~v~**

“I don't get it!” Greed exclaimed, beer mug in one hand and a piece of bread in the other. 

At the sound of his voice, the other occupants of the town's sole tavern turned to stare. Envy wanted to sink into his seat at the attention. Eating there had seemed like a wonderful idea when they wanted to take a breath from their questioning, but Greed kept drawing attention to them with his increasing volume. He doubted that homunculi could get drunk, but he suspected that Greed liked to push that. How many mugs had his brother gone through? Three? Four? He had lost count after the first two.

“We've searched everywhere for them,” Greed added, waving his piece of bread around. He took a large bite out of it before resuming his ranting. “We checked the inn on the other side of town, this tavern, the streets and even the train station! If they came here, someone must have seen them by now.”

Envy spooned some of his stew and took a sip. It had cooled considerably since he had gotten it, but he somehow managed to burn his tongue. Putting the spoon back in the stew, he warily eyed the bowl in front of him. Greed was oblivious to this little incident; he was still too caught up in his growing frustration to pay attention to anything that wasn't a clue.

“Maybe they did come through here, and they're just not telling us – that guy in the inn seemed pretty shifty, didn't he? We should go back and check-”

“Julius,” Envy said, sighing, “I don't think they're lying.”

His brother took another vicious bite out of the bread. Chewing irritatingly loud, he protested, “Look, we saw their footprints heading into town. One of them might have been able to sneak by without anyone noticing, but the other is massive-” 

Greed continued to go on about how frustrated and exhausted he was. Though Envy wanted to be a good listener and offer words of wisdom to Greed, he struggled to find it in him. It had been easy to pay attention back when the rant had started. Now, many minutes in, he desperately was searching for a distraction. He glanced around the tavern in the hopes that something would catch his eye. Maybe an interesting person, or an engaging conversation. And he did find what he was looking for, though the man sitting only tables away wasn't who he had expected to see.

It was the man from the train. The one he had a confrontation with after they arrived in the north, and the one who stubbornly kept a newspaper in front of his face even now. He was trying to hide some aspect of his face, but was doing a terrible job of it. He had to keep moving the newspaper from side to side every time that someone passed. To anyone with common sense, it would be a cause for suspicion. But apparently common sense was lacking in this town, as not a single person was drawing attention to that fact.

“I just want this whole thing to be over and done-”

“Julius,” he hurriedly interrupted. “I need to go talk to someone. I'll be back in a minute.”

Greed closed his mouth and slowly nodded.

Envy got out of his seat. He walked over to the table that the other man was at and slipped into the chair across from him. It was amazing how little time it took for him to notice that he was there. A second or two at most, despite having a newspaper in front of his eyes and Envy being silent the entire time he was walking over. 

“I know the truth about you and your friend over there.”

He glanced over his shoulder at his brother, who was busy chatting with one of the waitresses. Flirting, possibly, if he looked closely enough. His gaze quickly returned to the man. He must have come to some sort of random assumption about the two of them; there was no way that he could figure out their secret so easily-

The man's voice dropped down to a whisper. “I can see the Ouroboros tattoo on his hand, peeking out from underneath his glove. From the way that your hand just went to your thigh, I suspect that I'd find yours there.”

His blood ran cold. 

_He knows. He knows. He knows, he knows, he knows_

“What do you want?” he growled, keeping his voice low. He removed the traitorous hand and glared at the man across from him. If he had figured out the significance of the tattoo, he was a force to be reckoned with. He had to play things safe and do as he asked.

“I suggest we make a deal,” the man said. He took a sip from his coffee, carefully returning it to its little plate after doing so. “You and your friend let me leave and both of you stop interacting with me. If either of you make things difficult, I'll cause a scene and say that I'm being followed by two monsters. I might even stab you in self-defense to show how you can regenerate, if no one initially believes me.”

He looked at his brother again, still chatting away with the waitress. The smile he had on his face reached his eyes; he really loved being around humans, didn't he? He glanced back at the man. He couldn't risk their safety, and he couldn't risk their happiness. If it came at the price at leaving this terrifying man alone, then so be it. He didn't need to know what this man's secret was. They had enough to deal with as it was. Adding a mysterious and dangerous man on top of it all wasn't worth it.

But he didn't want to let this go.

He couldn't understand it. He was drawn to this man in a way that he was rarely drawn to any human: he had been willing to forsake any chance of staying unnoticed when he chose to follow him the first time. Having another confrontation and possibly causing a scene should have been against his instincts. Yet here he was, having a discussion that should have never happened. Why couldn't he just move on?

He let out a frustrated sigh.

“Alright,” he said. “I'll do what you want.”

“Good.” 

Envy pushed the chair back and returned to his original table. Greed gave him a questioning look, but he remained silent. He went back to eating his stew. Greed followed suit, eyes filled with worry as his brother sent the occasional glance in the mysterious man's direction. He absentmindedly tapped his foot against the floor. The man had been intriguing before their conversation; now he was impossible to ignore. 

The man finished his coffee and left.

It took ten more minutes for Greed to finish off his meal, and for Envy to decide that he was no longer wanted to eat. They paused underneath the overhang of the building. The streets were quiet. Empty. Small and light snowflakes had begun to fall sometime when they were in tavern, but they had yet to cover the footprints littering the ground.

“He knew,” Greed said. It was a statement, not a question.

Envy nodded.

“You were both looking at my hand,” Greed continued. He looked out at the town, squinting into the distance. The man had long since disappeared. “Did he insult you? You look upset.” 

He started to shake his head, only to stop when he thought carefully about what the man had said. “He threatened to say that we were monsters if we didn't leave him alone.” _I_ , he corrected, because Greed had never wanted to interact with him. “And it hurts to hear the truth like _that_.”

Greed balled his hands into fists. “You're not a-”

“I am,” he interrupted, taking a large step out into the street. He scanned the road for the next building they could go to; the grocery store would have been a good place for food and supplies. “I am and I always will be. But that doesn't matter-” _It does._ “-because I already knew it. I just don't like when someone uses it like that.”

He took a deep breath.

“But what really bugs me is that guy. I feel like I should know him. It's like I'm...I'm...”

Greed joined him, though he kept his gaze focused on the falling snowflakes. “Like you're looking at a part of yourself? Like he's someone you've met once, but somehow forgotten?” 

Envy turned and stared at him.

Greed grinned, though it wasn't an especially happy sort of smile; it was the smile that a person gave when they understood another. “I got that feeling on the train. Irritated the hell out of me, but I was too busy trying to chat with Al to pay much attention. But back in the tavern? I couldn't ignore it. It was right in front of my face, and I didn't like it one bit.”

“If only I could talk to h-” He caught sight of a footprint out of the corner of his eye; it was the smaller set of footprints they had followed into the town. He fell silent and tried to find the source. He should have been looking for where the person had been headed, but something made him look behind and not forward.

It was coming from the tavern.

“Look!” he said, tugging on Greed's sleeve and frantically pointing at the footprints.

His brother glanced at the footprints in question. Eyes wide and a gasp leaving his lips, he wildly began to search the street for the owner of the footprints. “Alright, think this through – Arthur, who left the tavern right before we did? We would have seen them when we entered if they had already been there, and they're on top of all the others.”

“That would have to be-” Realization dawned on him. “Oh, _fuck_! He's the one with our brother!”

“Who?”

“The man!” Envy was already heading towards the tavern, a handful of questions on the tip of his tongue. It was the best lead they had gotten all day, but it only made him feel more worried than before. “Shit! He must have gone after our brother because he knows what he is, and he wants the power he has-”

“And he thinks that's he's the Sloth from this reality!” Greed helpfully added, joining him at the door to the tavern.

“Which means he wants an evil, immortal being on his side to do who knows what,” Envy got out in a single breath. He pressed his hands against the door and started to push it open. “We are _so_ screwed.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! I had a little bit of trouble getting motivated to actually write it, but today I pushed myself to add onto the part I had already written and this is the end result. If everything goes according to the plan, you should see a fight in the next chapter - which will hopefully be uploaded in a day or two!


	11. Chapter 11

The man's name was Reyes Eberhardt, and he had only arrived that morning. The people of the tavern had never gotten a good look at the stranger, as he was reading his newspaper during the time he was there. A good portion of his discussion with his waitress had been pleasantries. But, hidden among it all, was a little hint to what he was planning next. He had asked for a roundabout way to go east. He had claimed that he wanted to sightsee, but even the most oblivious of the town had thought it was odd that someone would want to risk being in the northern wilderness for so long.

“He's a friend,” Envy would tell them, the smile that danced across his face never reaching his eyes. “A friend we'd _dearly_ like to see.”

And that seemed to be enough for the town. Everyone that had come in contact with him told the same story. He was searching for a long way to get to the east, and the grocery store owner helpfully added that he had bought an awfully large amount of food for doing so – even though he would never need that amount. The questions transitioned from what he had been doing to where he had been going, and they finally found the answer they were looking for.

Nestled across the nearby mountains was a little town. The town wasn't anything especially nice. It was mainly a refugee camp of sorts, if this town's limited information was to be trusted. Ishvalans had moved there after the horrible massacre that had wiped out their friends and family. Because of the distance and because of who lived there, the town they were in knew little to nothing about what could be found in the mountain village.

For whatever reason, Reyes Eberhardt had chosen to go there.

So Envy and Greed followed suit. They asked for directions. They stockpiled on supplies, excluding food because they only ate it out of habit and to keep up appearances. They needed to conserve the little money Greed had left. They had to leave without getting several supplies that they would have liked to have to save their funds, but, for the most part, they procured what they would need for their journey.

And so, just over an hour behind their query, they began their trek into the mountains.

Reyes had likely been going at a normal speed. With their agreement back in the tavern, he would have had no reason to hurry out of the town. They had both the element of surprise and speed on their side; if they just moved slightly faster than the two they were following, they would eventually catch up at them. So, lugging everything they had bought, the two started to chase them. 

It didn't take long for the town to disappear in the distance. Soon, even the familiar trees that had surrounded their initial search gradually changed into a barren landscape covered in snow. It was then that they could finally make out two figures – one towering over the other. They were approaching the bottom of the mountains, just about to slip into the small forest lining it. Envy and Greed looked at each other a single time before darting forward.

The smaller of the two turned, then gestured for the other to keep going without him. A groan simultaneously left the brothers. Dealing with one homunculus was much easier than dealing with two. And if he was right, Reyes only intended for one of them to pass. He grabbed his package and removed the wrapping. It was a weapon, like he had guessed the first time he had seen it. Some sort of sword, though he didn't understand why he just didn't use a gun.

“I'll take care of Reyes,” Envy said, “and you get Sloth.”

Greed nodded, then darted off into the direction Sloth had been heading in the woods. Envy slowly walked towards Reyes. The man looked torn between attacking him or his brother, ultimately settling on the one that was now only a few feet away. He thrust his sword forward. 

Envy jumped back to dodge the attack, but the sword's blade still managed to leave a small cut in his coat. 

Reyes had a grim and terrifying expression on his face. It was almost like anger was bubbling up from within him, threatening to spill over the moment he was provoked. It was only when he made this observation that he nodded another thing that had shockingly escaped his notice.

He could finally see what he looked like. An eye patch over one eye, dark hair with a few strands of gray and an overall healthy build. He should have recognized him. If he knew of the homunculi, he must have had some sort of connection to the military in this reality and possibly in theirs. So why was he staring at a complete stranger? 

The sword pierced his side, pushing past his thin layer of clothing and into his skin. The blade nestled itself between several of his organs. While it was an easy enough wound to heal, it hurt like hell. He grit his teeth together and grabbed onto the blade. His attacker pushed the sword farther in as a response to the move.

He could hear Greed hurrying after Sloth in the distance, shouting as loud as he possibly could. For once, Envy didn't care if someone overheard the usage of their actual names. He was too focused on his fight with Reyes.

He dug his feet into the snow. The blade was still embedded in his skin, and he didn't want to heal himself unless it became absolutely necessary. Blood splattered across the pristine white snow, staining the footprints left by the few who traversed the woods. He needed to get free. But how was he supposed to do that when Reyes refused to let him go on the offensive?

He went to move back.

Reyes pushed the sword in even harder.

He coughed up more blood. Damn it, it hurt! He hadn't felt this much pain in decades. He needed to come up with something unexpected. He knew that he was a homunculus, so he couldn't rely on that. He would have to use his wits instead, and do the opposite of what was common sense.

Envy stared down at the blade.

And it was at that moment that it hit him.

He struggled to take a deep breath. Then he rushed forward, the sword impaling him even further. The action served its purpose. Reyes' sole eye widened in surprise when Envy was suddenly standing in front of him. Using the blade to hold himself steady, Envy kicked off of Reyes' chest with as much force as he could without injuring him.

Both should have gone flying in opposite directions, but Reyes grabbed him by the feet and knocked him to the ground. He dug his foot into Envy's chest and pushed the sword even harder into the snow. The battle was over and both of them knew it. If he tried to get up, Reyes would only push the sword in harder. Trying to change his form would result in the same issue – he would never be able to get free of it. He just had to deal with whatever Reyes was going to do to him.

But before what would happen could begin, he had a question.

“How?”

Reyes raised an eyebrow. “How what?”

“How did you predict that?” he said. His wound was still bleeding profusely, but it was surprisingly easy to ignore at the moment. “You could be a brilliant strategist, but no one in their right mind would ever walk further into a blade. That's not something you can predict.”

Reyes tapped the area next to his eye patch. “You underestimate the Ultimate Eye.”

“The _what_?” 

He began to jolt up, but the man pushed him back down with a strong kick. He must have heard him wrong, right? There was no Ultimate Eye. What would an eye like that even do? Who would even have it? Was he dealing with a homunculi from this reality, with an ability his siblings never had the opportunity to learn of because they left too soon? But then why did this man look like none of his siblings, and lack the personality that his shapeshifting counterpart supposedly had?

“The Ultimate Eye,” Reyes calmly repeated. He casually lifted his eye patch to reveal an eye that lacked a normal pupil; instead, Envy found himself looking at an Ouroboros tattoo. “Your reaction intrigues me. You should have known what my ability is, yet you're oddly surprised.”

That was when it hit him.

“ _Wrath_?”

The hand holding the sword shook, though he couldn't tell if it was out of fear or anger. Probably the second option, if the sin he was meant to personify actually held some merit. “Yes.”

He took a deep breath. Having dealt with so many absurd and impossible things in the past few days made it somehow easier to deal with this situation; he just needed to think things through. The sword in his side made that a bit difficult, but he could manage.

“The Elrics said their Wrath was Fuhrer King Bradley. You look nothing like _my_ Fuhrer King Bradley, but you're a homunculus.” He thought for a moment. “I don't think you're the one from this reality. That Wrath would never come out here without a group of soldiers to back him up, and your clothes are too casual for the military.”

Wrath furrowed his brow. “That doesn't make sense.”

Envy shrugged. “It's right, isn't it?”

“It is,” he confirmed, “but you should have known that.”

“How could I-”

“You work with that-that man.” The trembling of his hand increased, and he could see the anger bubbling beneath the surface on the man's face. “He told me there were six others. He called them my siblings, and said that I would meet them someday. I left before I could. That was why you've been following me. He finally figured out where I had gone, and you and that other homunculus were just finishing your job of tracking me down when you were brought to this reality.”

“ _What_?”

Wrath – his brother, one that he had never expected to meet like this – silently watched him, his grip on the sword's hilt tightening. He was struggling to make sense of it all, just as Envy was. Both of them had been so certain that they had the right side of the story. It was difficult to change a perspective like that once it was set in stone, and Envy suspected that Wrath had believed he was a threat for much longer than he had thought Wrath was.

“I didn't even know you were Wrath until this conversation,” Envy protested, trying to keep his voice level and steady. Emotions kept threatening to break free the more he thought about what he was actually discussing, but he somehow refrained from letting his panic get the best of him. “I didn't even know there was another one of us until a few days ago. I just wanted to protect my brother back at the train station, and the only reason I followed you now was because you were with Sloth. Not because I work for Father – which, by the way, I don't. None of us do. We left centuries ago.”

He abruptly let go of the sword. Turning, he stared off into the woods behind him. Envy couldn't make out his face from the angle he was at, but was too occupied with other matters to pay much attention to him. He took the opportunity to get to his feet and remove the sword. Throwing it down on the ground, he walked over to his brother.

“I thought he was a human,” Wrath whispered, his voice steady and trembling hand still. “I never-I never thought he was another homunculus.”

“We do a good job blending in,” he said. 

Wrath turned to look at him. He studied him for a moment before speaking, taking in the bloodied man beside him. Envy finally let his wounds heal. A spark of red light, and what had once been a gaping cut in his side had left behind nothing but unblemished skin.

“I heard the other homunculus call you Arthur. Is that the name you go by?” Wrath asked. He looked so old compared to his current form, but something about the tone of his voice made Envy realize just how young he truly was.

He shook his head. “It's just an alias. I'm Envy.”

Wrath stared, his gaze quickly softening. “I'm sorry.”

He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He had never asked his siblings, but he had always guessed that they felt their namesake the strongest out of all of the sins. Wrath must have spent the entirety of life angry at the things he couldn't control, hating himself and the world for how he had been born a monster. Only someone who had felt something like that could understand the burning pit of envy in his gut, desperately wishing for a chance to be like the humans he had always admired.

He cleared his throat.

“Let's go see our brothers,” he said.

Wrath nodded.

Sometimes, it hurt too much to talk about things like that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! The whole Reyes vs. King Bradley situation should be properly explained in the next chapter, as well as what Lust and Pride have been up to over in Havoc's store. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter in the comments!


	12. Chapter 12

For someone who was supposed to be the physical embodiment of laziness, Sloth was surprisingly fast. Greed didn't remember him being this quick when they had played together as kids. (Kids being a loose descriptor here; neither one of them had ever had a childlike body, though they had acted the age they technically were.) He had always been the one to lag behind. Getting stuck with Sloth had essentially been a death sentence. He would take forever to hide in a good game of team hide-and-seek, and then his teammates would cry out in frustration when they were inevitably discovered. Or, in Gluttony and Envy's cases, actually cry. 

He stored that little childhood memory away in the back of his mind. When they finally explained things to Sloth and were taking a break from the frantic flurry of activity, it would be the perfect thing to tease Envy about.

Sloth started to run a little faster, a feat that Greed didn't know was possible. _Damn_. He had never realized how fast his brother could move when he wanted to. “Yo!” Greed shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Sloth, wait up! I don't know what that man's been telling you but he's a liar. It's me, Greed! Your big brother! I've got Envy with me and we just wanted to-”

Sloth came to an abrupt stop. Greed, who had been hurrying on with just as much speed as before, went slamming into him. The larger of the two remained unmoving as Greed stumbled back into the snow. Not how he had imagined meeting up with this brother, but what else could he do? He hopped back to his feet, patted himself down and gave the other homunculus a toothy grin.

“I didn't realize it was you,” Sloth said, with an alertness that took Greed by surprise. He peered down at his brother. “You cut your hair short, and Envy never used a form like his current one before.”

“Uh, yeah.” Sloth had never struck him as attentive to details. They all had their problems with paying attention to each other, but Sloth had always been the quiet type. He only spoke if he was spoken to, and even then it was only about how little he wanted to do whatever they were up to.

“Reyes said you were after him,” he continued, “but I'm starting to think this is all a big misunderstanding. He seems like a good person, though he's a little odd.”

Greed studied his younger brother. He had expected his siblings to change a little in the time that they had been apart, but not to Sloth's extent. It was as if he was looking at an entirely different person. One who shared the name and basic appearance with Sloth, but was completely separate from the kid he had known years ago. And, though he'd never say it to his brother's face, it was _really_ disconcerting. He didn't like not understanding his siblings. Especially Sloth, when he had been the one that Greed thought would never change. 

If he ignored the shift in personality, there was still the matter of his appearance. His hair was thrown back into a neat ponytail, only slightly shorter than it had been before. His eyes looked healthy and alive; he had never liked how dead they could look during the most enjoyable of activities. And his clothes were somehow stylish, despite them standing in the middle of the northern wilderness. 

“You're looking good,” Greed finally said.

Sloth straightened. An honest-to-God smile danced across his lips, and Greed's heart melted at the sight. He couldn't recall the last time his brother had smiled – he wasn't even sure if it had ever happened when they were in the same room. “I've been working on it,” he said, giving his coat's pocket a good pat. “It hasn't been easy, but I've been making progress.”

Greed eyed the pocket.

“It's where I keep my medicine,” he said.

“You do drugs?” Greed wasn't one to judge, as he had dabbled with them once or twice. It boiled back to the same problem that he had been having this entire conversation – Sloth, who had never done a single drug in his life, wasn't acting like Sloth.

Sloth stared, then shook his head. “No. Well, yes. I've been taking anti-depressants. So they are drugs, just not in the sense you were thinking of.” When Greed didn't say anything, he rushed into another explanation. “It's not exactly the same, but my 'sin' shares some major similarities with depression. It's helped. A lot. I can actually think clearly now. And on days when the medicine doesn't work as well, I can try motivating myself to get things done. It's been baby steps, but being immortal has its perks.”

What was he supposed to say to something like _that_? He had always just accepted that Sloth was Sloth; he'd lounge about and try to do as little as possible. That was normal. This wasn't normal, but he knew it was better. His brother seemed happier than he had ever been. It was just hard finding the right words to say when Sloth had grown up and changed so much in the time they had been apart.

“I know it sounds a little odd, but I didn't want to be-”

Greed dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. “You don't need to explain. If you're happy, I'm happy.” He gave him a thumbs up for emphasis, a grin beginning to spread across his face. “So, what's the name right now? I've been going by Julius, and Envy's currently Arthur.”

“Hugo.”

“Hug-Oh! It's a joke, isn't it? Because you're gigantic!” He snapped his fingers at the realization. Then a laugh started to leave him as Sloth grinned as well. “Sloth, I didn't know you had a sense of humor! Wait 'til Envy hears your name – that'll get a smile out of him for sure.” 

As if the words had summoned his younger brother, Envy slipped into their section of the forest with Reyes Eberhardt in tow. They were standing surprisingly close for people who had been fighting only moments before. They both had surprisingly solemn looks on their faces. Considering that neither were noticeably injured, and that Sloth and Greed were unharmed, he had a sneaking suspicion that some sort of saddening conversation had gone down between the two of them.

Envy glanced over at Reyes.

Satisfied with whatever he saw, he took a step forward. Then he took a noticeable step _back_ when he actually looked at Sloth, having been just as unprepared for the sight as Greed had been. “Hi, Sloth,” he said. His words were hesitant, uncertain. “You look... _different_.”

Panic flickered across Sloth's face. He looked wildly from Envy to Reyes, trying to mouth “he doesn't know” as discreetly as possible – which was a bit hard to do when he was a giant of a man; nothing he did was ever discreet. Greed should have been worried that Reyes apparently was unaware of his companion being a homunculus, but he was more intrigued by the look that Reyes and Envy momentarily shared. Whatever had happened during their battle had made them oddly close.

“I told him,” Envy reassured him.

What sounded suspiciously like a groan left Sloth. “ _Why_?” he whispered. “Envy, he thought I was a human like him-”

Reyes held up a hand. Sloth fell silent, anxiously watching him as he opened his mouth to speak. Greed watched as well, though he was more curious than anything else. “Envy said that homunculi are good at blending in. I guess I must really be one of you if you thought that.”

He lifted up his eye patch.

There was an Ouroboros tattoo.

Greed had been having a rough day. A rough few days, if he started keeping count when he had woken up in that alleyway. He had seen things and heard things that shouldn't have ever been possible, but he had never expected that this man of all people was another one of their siblings. And from the unfamiliar placement of his Ouroboros tattoo, he could only be one person – Wrath, who _supposedly_ had been Fuhrer King Bradley and certainly wasn't now. Apparently the Elrics were wrong with that little bit of information. But before he could even begin to approach the subject of what the hell was going on, Sloth beat him to it.

“We have another brother?”

A ghost of a smile flickered across Envy's face. “Yes.”

**~v~**

It had been Sloth's idea to sit down and discuss _it_. He guessed “it” was a combination of the alternate reality troubles and their new sibling, which would likely involve a lengthy discussion, but Greed would have been much more happy to just hash it out right there and then. Because when they went with Sloth's plan, they ended up having to search for somewhere to sit. A hard task, considering that they were in the middle of snow-covered wilderness. But they managed to do it after an irritatingly long time had passed, and Greed made a beeline for the spot closest to Envy.

“So,” Greed said, leaning forward, “you're Wrath.”

“I am.” A flash of anger in his eye, followed by a deep breath. If he had any doubts prior to this conversation, that look took them all away.

“If no one's found you before, you must be pretty young,” he continued, though he was talking more to himself than to Wrath. He was trying to get a good handle on who exactly his newest sibling was. “So, what? Twenty? Thirty? Maybe forty? Or are you actually a kid, cursed with the opposite of what Pride has to deal with?”

A chuckle escaped Wrath. “Do I really look that young?”

“I'd say late fifties,” Envy guessed. “If your appearance somehow mirrors your actual age, which would be absurd. I'm the only one who can get away with it because of my abilities.” 

When Wrath nodded, the three other homunculi collectively lost it. They looked their youngest brother over. They turned to each other, then studied themselves (in the case of Greed and Sloth) to see if that was something they could do. Greed was slightly put out to realize that, no, he couldn't control the age of his body, but then he was once again distracted by the mysterious seventh homunculus.

“You don't age?” Wrath slowly asked.

They all frantically nodded.

“But didn't you go through what I did?”

Greed glanced over at Sloth and Envy. “And what exactly would that be?” he questioned, leaning forward just a little bit more. He was starting to get an idea. An idea that would seem absurd if he hadn't heard of what had happened with his counterpart in this reality...

"I was injected with a philosopher's stone. I was told it had the most wrathful souls in it. Mine was the most wrathful of all, and it's the one that currently resides in this body. All of the others were defeated by it.”

“That second part sounds like bullshit, but I'll go with it,” Greed reluctantly said. His guess had been right. He doubted that the second half of it was the complete truth – what would a philosopher's stone be without several hundred souls? – but Wrath seemed convinced that it was. “After all, the version of me from this reality is running around in the body of a fifteen year old prince from Xing. Trust me when I say that I can accept anything after finding _that_ out.” 

“Why would you have a problem with that?”

Greed stared. “Well, there's the little bit about the homunculi here being evil. And even if he knew that the old me was a pretty nice guy, no one in their right mind would ever want to give up complete control of their body to a homunculus-”

Envy gave him a look.

Oh.

That would be what Wrath did, wouldn't it?

“No offense to you,” he hurriedly added.

Wrath chuckled again. He had to admit that he liked the sound of his laugh. “None taken. I was a government experiment. It wasn't like I had much say in the matter. But if you didn't go through what I did, then how exactly were you created?” 

Sloth started to explain how a homunculus was traditionally made, traditionally being a grand total of five times from the way that Envy was growing noticeably uncomfortable, but Greed's mind lingered on what Wrath had said. His brother had been a government _experiment_? He knew he was supposed to be the personification of avarice but that made him pissed off. Roa. Bido. Martel. Dolcetto. Ulchi. And now Wrath. Six people who had been treated as a fucking object by the government, all for what? To advance alchemy? To gain power? It sickened him to think that his brother had likely gone through the horrible treatment his friends had.

He promised right then and there that when they returned to their reality, he would personally storm into Father's little cavern and give him a good punch in the face. And then, while he was at it, he'd wreak some vengeance on everyone that worked underneath him.

Sloth's explanation concluded, and Greed started paying attention again.

“So you don't have more human names that you're comfortable with,” Wrath surmised. “You've always seen yourselves as homunculi and not the least bit human.”

Envy nodded a bit too quick for Greed's liking, eager to accept the truth in what their youngest brother had said. But he couldn't address that. Not here, not now. He had talked to Envy about opening up. He would tell him the secret he was keeping; it was just a matter of time.

“I don't feel that way,” Wrath slowly said. He paused and watched them.

Sloth gestured for him to go on.

“I've always seem myself more as a human than as a homunculus,” he elaborated. Another pause, this time a contemplative look accompanying it. “Especially after I met someone who has been in a similar situation for longer than I've been alive – though he'd never say it, he sees himself more as a human than anything else.”

“And?” Greed asked.

“Well,” Wrath said, “I'd prefer if you called me Reyes.”

“Reyes?” Envy questioned, confusion clouding his eyes. 

Wrath – Reyes – nodded. “Wrath is what I was called after I was able to take in that philosopher's stone. Though I was never given a name when I was a child, Reyes Eberhardt is the name that I gave myself when I escaped. I've spent the best parts of my life as Reyes.” 

His three brothers looked at each other.

He was different than them, but they had always been a weird collection of siblings. Gluttony with his stomach, Pride being a sentient mass of shadows in a boy's body, and Envy with whatever secrets he had...Adding a homunculus who had been human before and still saw himself in that way would be nothing extraordinary.

“So, Reyes, where to next?” Greed asked, jumping to his feet. “You seem to have a better grasp on what you want to do with yourself than we do, and I doubt that little refuge camp over the mountains is your final destination.” 

Reyes stood up. “I was thinking that I should visit my home,” he said, smiling. “Even if I never lived there, I suspect that someone I know still did. I haven't seen him in quite some time, but I might be lucky enough to find him there. I think he might have some helpful advice for us.”

The other two homunculi stood up.

“What's his name?” Sloth asked.

“Van Hohenheim.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! I had a lot of free time last night and this morning, and decided to crank out another chapter. There was too much I had to cover on the Envy-Greed-Reyes-Sloth end to talk about what Pride and Lust were up to, but I do plan on doing that soon! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know what you think in the comments.
> 
> (By the way, if you want to follow me on Tumblr, you can find me at the url saentiel.)


	13. Chapter 13

It had been only a handful of days since they had arrived in the town, but relations between Lust and her former lover hadn't improved in the slightest. Pride would even go as far to say that they had somehow gotten worse. But he was a good brother, and he kept his mouth shut as Lust continued to pine a love that had never existed in the mind of the one her love was directed towards. 

Despite the tense meetings between the two in the town square, and the wary look he gave in her direction whenever she entered his store, Jean had yet to resort to violence. In fact, he had yet to even raise his voice at her since their arrival. Pride found this deeply suspicious. Lust, blinded by her affection for Jean, saw it as a sign of hope. He wanted to say something to her about his fears, but what could he say that would convince her? It was gut feeling that only he had, and he doubted it would be stronger than the feelings she had for the store's employee. 

He clung to her more than he had back during their time with Father. She took it as a sign that he wanted to continue their act, and he gladly let her continue to think that she was right. If he couldn't convince her that they were making a terrible mistake when they came to the daily decision to spend the night in the same inn as they had the previous one, he would make sure she was never out of his sight. The right change in tone around Jean, the right threatening glint to his eyes when their gazes met, the way he manipulated the shadows ever so slightly when they were alone in the shop – he knew his attempts to scare off Jean must have been doing something. Whether that something was good or bad, it was impossible to determine. But Pride took solace in the fact that he was trying his best, and he could only hope that it would have a positive outcome.

**xXx**

The day hadn't started out horrible. It had actually been going quite well. The sky had been absolutely beautiful when he had awoken, there was his favorite breakfast out on the desk in their room, and he had slept surprisingly well. Though there was the daunting task of dealing with Jean at least once over the course of the day, he felt confident that every other aspect of it would be as good as it could get for a homunculus like him.

But then he saw the note on the nightstand.

Lust had left without him.

She was still in town; it would be foolish to go any farther than that based on their agreement. But, believing that Pride had only been clinging to her because he wanted the town to believe they were _normal_ (a thought that made him want to laugh), she had thought it would be alright for him to sleep in while she went about her daily business. Instead of guaranteeing him a relaxing morning, she had accidentally gifted him with a hellish punishment. _This_ was what he had gotten for staying so silent.

And of course she had longer legs than him, which made it nearly impossible to find her. He could trace her footsteps but they'd still be at least an hour apart. He had wanted to scream out in frustration at it all. But he was a homunculus who had been around for centuries, not a human child who threw temper tantrums when things didn't go their way.

As he continued to struggle to find her, he grew more and more frustrated. Half of the townspeople completely ignored him. The other half tried to lure him into their houses with promises of milk and cookies, worried about a child wandering by himself through streets he didn't belong on. He hated being treated like he was anything less than what he was, and he hated how he still hadn't been able to find his sister.

He was so furious that he had ceased paying attention to anything other than the mess of emotions flooding him. Even almost tripping over his own feet had no effect on him; it took bumping into the legs of a particularly tall man for him to suddenly focus back on the world around him. But the emotions refused to be suppressed, and he spat out, “Watch where you're going!” to the man. 

A man who should have never heard a child yell those words with such frustration, such irritation in his voice. 

A man who, Pride began to realize with a sinking feeling in his gut, looked strikingly familiar.

He had only seen him once in person in the southern parts of Amestris, but that had been enough, but his face was unforgettable. He had seen it on countless newspapers after the end of the Ishvalan War. He was looking at Roy Mustang, the Hero of Ishval. Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. Roy Mustang, colonel in the _military_. He wasn't dressed in any uniform, but Pride could easily recognize his face.

Pride took a step back.

The colonel did as well.

They stared at each other, neither one willing to say a word to the other. He couldn't begin to guess what was running through the Flame Alchemist's head. Was he high enough to know that the homunculi existed? If he was, then he would know that one of them appeared to be a child. And if he thought things through, realized that no child would ever speak that way to an adult, and somehow knew that two homunculi were in the town-

“Fuck,” Pride said. 

Another mistake on his part, but he was past the point where he cared. The only person here who had any sort of connection to the military was Jean. Jean, who had called someone the day they had arrived and talked about an _alchemy_ shipment. No wonder he hadn't argued with Lust – he had been trying to get her to stick around so the colonel could come and bring her back to Father!

Roy Mustang furrowed his brow. He took a good look at the now absolutely livid Pride, who was in the middle of calculating the fastest route to the general store and the best way to deal with a certain ex of his sister. Then recognition appeared on his face, and the alchemist reached into his pocket for his gloves. Pride couldn't remember if he had read it somewhere or inferred it, but he knew that those gloves were used to make his flames.

Shadows versus flames. It was easy to tell which one would win in the encroaching battle, but they were in the middle of the town. The street may have been deserted, and the housing may have been mostly unoccupied. But there was still the possibility of someone getting hurt or seeing his true self, and Pride couldn't risk that even if had wanted that.

Pride took a step forward. It was a foolish decision if his plan didn't work, but it did exactly what it was supposed to – it scared the hell out of the alchemist. He didn't say anything. Pride didn't expect him to. All that he needed to see was that brief look of horror in his eyes, one that confirmed that the action had been as intimidating as Pride had hoped it would be. Moving closer to an attacking opponent showed a level of confidence – of pride – and was a clear display of power. It didn't matter that the hands in his pockets were shaking, or that goosebumps had started to pop all over his body. Roy Mustang couldn't see that.

“It would be foolish to fight here,” Pride said, keeping his voice low. His voice gained the inhuman quality that he rarely used. Even if he hated it, it was one of the best ways to show the colonel just what he was dealing with. “The townspeople are convinced that I'm a normal boy. I don't think they'd take kindly to you attacking me, especially when you're not dressed in blue.”

Then he smiled. Childish, innocent and absolutely terrifying when someone knew what lurked beneath the surface of his body. 

The Flame Alchemist knew that he had lost the argument. He slipped his gloves back into the pockets of his jacket and gave Pride the coldest look the homunculus had ever received. “What do you want, homunculus?”

Something about the question didn't sit well with Pride, but he couldn't explain what exactly that something was. He couldn't keep fixating on the oddities of this moment. He had never once been caught since they had left Father, so everything was bound to be a little bit strange. 

“I want you to leave this town,” Pride said.

“Why?”

The combination of the unexpected question and the darkening look on his face completely threw Pride off. He should have expected that someone idolized for how much death and destruction he had caused would be unfazed by his tactics. For once, it seemed like Father had actually done something smart.

“Because,” Pride weakly said, trying to come up with a better response. “Because that's what I demanded, and because I'm not going to let you take what you came here for.”

“You were the boy I heard in the background,” Roy Mustang surmised. Pride folded his arms and gave a slight nod of the head. Yes, his suspicions were confirmed. Jean had been the one to sound the alarm, and Lust was walking right into his trap. “But that can't be possible. You're Selim Bradley, and I saw the Fuhrer's son the day I received the phone call. You can't have gone from Central to here in such a short period of time.”

Now it was Pride who adopted a look of confusion. Selim Bradley? Who the hell was that, and why did Roy Mustang think he was the same person? Better yet, there was the whole issue of him being in Central – despite never having set foot in it since they had left Father centuries ago. 

“I'm going to pretend that I have some semblance of an idea of what you're talking about, and we're going to go back to our earlier conversation.” Pride smiled, trying to shake off his growing worry that something was horribly wrong. “If you so much as lay a finger on Lust, I will make sure your life is a living hell.”

Roy Mustang appeared to be just as worried as he was, but he skillfully hid it behind that cold look of his. A look that, though Pride was trying his best to give no indication of it, made shivers run up and down Pride's little spine. “I was going to say the same thing about Jean.”

“Jean has already dug his grave,” Pride spat back. “After calling you so you could come hurt the woman who loves him! Say what you want about me, but I think I know who the real monster is here.”

“Lust never loved him,” the colonel countered. “She just used him to get more intelligence on the military. To get more intelligence on me and my men.” 

“It's awfully bold of you to assume that, Roy Mustang. I never thought a human like you would ever have a bigger ego than I do, but apparently you're the exception.”

Interesting. It looked like the colonel was growing increasingly frustrated, which was not the emotion that Pride had guessed he would respond with. 

“Lust told us everything right before she stabbed Jean. She's the reason he's in that wheelchair now, and I swear that I won't let her – or you – hurt one of my men again.” His hand went back into his pocket. He must have been fingering his glove, debating if he could risk attacking him out in public like this. “None of this is making sense. Lust should be dead, and you should be back in Central. But I no longer care about either of those things. Leave Jean, homunculus, and I might spare your life.”

“There's that thing again,” Pride said. “That little misconception, one that I still can't wrap my head around. Lust never died, and never broke Jean's heart. She arrived here thinking that the two of them were still in a relationship. It was confusing to hear Jean make that same statement, but it's become almost infuriating to hear another person say the same thing.” 

Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist and the Hero of Ishval, gave him a dumbfounded look. Everything that Pride had considered threatening moments before disappeared, and he was left with a soldier who could have been mistaken for an ordinary man if going by the expression on his face alone.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we might be on the same side,” the colonel said, removing his hands from his pockets. A heavy sigh escaped his lips. “At the very least, I don't believe we're enemies. I'm not sure about Lust, but it seems like you and I just want to protect the people we care about.”

Pride let his arms hang loose at his side. He should have been suspicion of such a sudden change of heart, but the conclusion sounded genuine. “So now what?” 

“I need to talk to Jean,” Roy Mustang said, “and I think I'll find Lust near him, if what you're saying is true.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking so long to write this chapter. I had a bad combination of severe writer's block and a lack of motivation to write this fic, but I sat down and forced myself to start writing it last night. I'm surprised that I was able to write it so quickly.
> 
> I do want to stick to canon in this fic as much as I can, but there is a little shift in an event in the realm of this fic. Rather than happen later when all of the crazy stuff is happening up in Briggs, Riza learns of Selim Bradley's true nature and tells Roy earlier. That's why he knows about Pride being a homunculus, though Ed and Al have only been in Briggs for a day or two. 
> 
> Other than that, everything should line up with the canon story!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know what you think in the comments.


	14. Chapter 14

They walked in silence to the general store. No matter how hard he tried to, Pride simply couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. He ran his mind through the few facts he knew, but doing so only made his worry grow exponentially. He had taken to holding onto the colonel's hand – not just for the act of being a child, but because feeling someone's flesh next to his own was comforting. He was holding the Flame Alchemist's hand so hard that the man flinched at the pain. To his credit, he didn't draw his hand away.

They stopped at the entrance to the store.

There was a closed sign hanging on the door, its interior dark and devoid of life.

His hand dropped down to his side, and he stared with wide, horrified eyes at the sign. It had been their one lead to where Lust had gone. And, to a lesser extent, to where Jean had gone as well. He only cared where his sister had gone; Jean was only important if he had done something to her.

He and the colonel were no farther than they had been when they had arrived.

“She should have been here,” Pride said. He was starting to fiddle with the collar of his shirt. He was the oldest. Not by much, but enough to consider himself responsible for what happened to the others. Lust was his baby sister. If anything happened to her, he didn't know what he would do. “It's the only place she's wanted to go the entire time we've been here.” 

“I'm sure that we'll be able to find them,” Roy Mustang said, but even he didn't sound certain of what he was promising. 

He looked down at the small boy beside him. There was pity in those dark eyes, a pity that he would have normally despised but now desperately craved. If only the colonel could give him the comfort that should have accompanied it. But he was a child in appearance only, and his short time with Mustang had only reinforced that in the eyes of the alchemist.

There was movement in the woods beside them. Both were too concerned with the fate of their respective loved ones to pay much attention at first, but it became all the more apparent when the rustling continued. Whatever it was, it was quickly approaching their location. 

Both the colonel and Pride turned to see the source of the noise.

He caught sight of a familiar face peering out of the shadows and leaves. There was an almost ashamed look to it, like a kid who had been caught in the middle of raiding the cookie jar. Pride's breath caught in his throat. He had to run through his memories to figure out who he was looking at, and that in itself was terrifying: it meant he was dealing with someone he had not seen in quite a long time, and that always opened the possibility for discovery.

But then he realized who it was.

He took a hesitant step forward, casting the briefest of glances in Mustang's direction. He had slipped his gloves on, but was now oddly in the middle of putting them away. “Gluttony?” Pride carefully said, not wishing to frighten his younger brother. “It's me, Pride.”

Gluttony's face split into a grin. Whatever had made him want to stay in the woods no longer controlled his actions; he eagerly hurried out through the bushes and stopped in front of the smaller homunculus. 

“Knew I smelled you!” he said, pulling him into an incredibly tight embrace. 

Pride, unprepared for the sudden hug, gave a startled cry at the gesture. It didn't help that Gluttony definitely broke a rib or two in the process, but now wasn't the time to reprimand his brother. Pride let his philosopher's stone go to work in the way that it desired, mending broken bones and bruised tissues. They could have stood like that for an eternity – neither willing to let the other go. It had been far too long since he had last seen his younger brother, and Pride never wanted to leave him again. But then the colonel awkwardly cleared his throat, prompting Pride to remember the reason they were there in the first place.

Pride slipped out of his grasp.

“Gluttony, this is Colonel Mustang-”

“Know him,” his brother interrupted. “Came together.”

The oldest homunculus looked from Gluttony to the alchemist, disbelief flickering across his face as he tried to comprehend what had just been told. The colonel had almost attacked him when he had realized who he was dealing with. Why would he allow Gluttony to travel with him? Seeing that Gluttony considered this entire exchange to be normal, it looked like he needed to turn to Mustang for answers. 

So that was exactly what he did.

He crossed his arms and looked up at the state alchemist. “What are you doing with my brother?” he asked. The translation was obvious to some versed in dealing with a dangerous enemy – what ulterior motive did you have, and what did you do to him? Mustang may have seemed kind, but many others had acted that way in the past.

“He showed up in my apartment a week ago,” the colonel carefully said. “He broke in there and started saying that he needed to go to me because Lust said it was safer there, and mentioned something about Jean. That was when I received a phone call from Jean, requesting that I come. When I realized I heard Lust in the background, Gluttony begged to come with me.”

Pride glanced at Gluttony. His brother nodded in confirmation, then ducked his head down. “Should have stayed hiding. Smelled brother.” It was an apology, apparently to the colonel from the way that he was peeking up at him. No wonder Gluttony had been so hesitant to come out; he didn't want Mustang to reprimand him for not following orders.

“I guess it's alright,” Mustang said with a sigh.

Gluttony immediately perked up.

He had forgotten how predictable his little brother could be sometimes. He gave Gluttony a brief smile that made his face light up even more than it already had, then turned back to Mustang. “Now we just need to find Lust,” he said.

“And Jean,” Mustang added. 

Pride didn't comment on the addition. 

“But where could they have gone?” the alchemist continued, oblivious to the reaction of the homunculus across from him. He scanned the surrounding area for any sort of indicator of where the two could be. Pride joined him. They would have likely continued searching like that if Gluttony hadn't tugged on his arm.

“Near here,” he said. “Smell them.”

He started heading towards a little path leading into the woods that neither Pride or Mustang had noticed while worrying about Lust and Jean. Now that it had been pointed out to them, they gave each other incredulous looks. “You've been here several times,” Mustang said. “How did you not notice that?”

He shrugged. “I wasn't outside. And you're the tall one. How did _you_ not notice it while we were standing here?”

“I was looking at the building.” 

Pride raised an eyebrow. 

“Coming?” Gluttony impatiently asked, waiting at the start of the path. 

When both gave each other one last look before nodding and hurrying after the homunculus, Gluttony began to make his way into the woods. Mustang easily bridged the distance between the two of them, but Pride was forced to run faster than his little legs could carry him. It was part of the curse of being stuck in the body of a child.

Mustang turned. 

Sighing, he went over to Pride. “You're slower than I expected a you to be,” he said. “Your siblings are much faster than you.”

“My siblings are also the ones who were lucky enough to get the bodies of adults,” he replied through gritted teeth, glaring up at the alchemist as the two walked down the path. 

Mustang folded his arms, raising one eyebrow as he looked down at him. “You're not just taking on the form a child?” he asked. Pride didn't like the way that Mustang was studying him. If he didn't know better, it seemed like he was coming up with some sort of plan. He didn't want to know what.

“Who would ever want that?”

The colonel didn't have an answer.

“I'm the oldest,” Pride said. “Not by a lot. But it was long enough for my father to realize that it was smarter to have the never aging homunculi be adults instead of children, so all of my siblings are lucky enough to look the age they act as. Being stuck as a child is far from enjoyable. I have to pretend that I don't know things, that I'm oblivious to everything going on in a room. I'm short, which means I always need things to stand on or have to hurry to keep up with adults. And God forbid I try to go somewhere on my own.”

They fell silent again.

They had fallen a considerable distance behind Gluttony. One look over at Mustang explained why. The colonel was slowing his pace so he could keep up with him. He should have been infuriated that someone was taking pity on him, but there was something comforting about other people carrying about him enough to do something as thoughtful as slowing down.

Still, they needed to keep up with Gluttony.

“You should catch up with my brother,” Pride said. “I'll try going a little faster.” He was already going as fast as he could, but he wasn't going to admit that. 

Mustang gave him that look again. That contemplative look, the one where someone almost certainly was coming up with some sort of scheme that he didn't want to be a part of. 

A second later, Pride found himself being carried by him.

He let out a startled cry and tried to get free of his grasp, but Mustang was unsurprisingly strong and prepared for the response to the action. “Let me down!” he protested. Gluttony turned back and gave the two a nervous look.

“You want to keep up with Gluttony, don't you?”

He momentarily stopped fighting against him. “Yes.”

“I have longer legs than you,” Mustang pointed out. “And you're relatively light, so I have no trouble carrying you. It makes more sense than me leaving you behind to catch up with us, especially when I need you to talk to your sister so she doesn't attack me.”

He thought over what he said.

He sighed. “I guess this alright.”

He'd never tell Mustang, but he actually enjoyed being hoisted onto his shoulders like the child he had never truly been able to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! I had initially intended for them to find Jean and Lust, but I ended up deciding that a heartfelt conversation with Pride and Roy was a better choice. The next chapter should hopefully wrap up this current little arc and go back the boys over at Briggs, so be prepared for the fun stuff I have planned! 
> 
> I want to thank everyone who has read this story so far. I've never had a fanfiction as popular as this one, and seeing your comments and kudos means the world to me. Just a few weeks ago, this story surpassed 100 kudos - that's more than I've ever seen on any of the fics I've posted on here. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you so much for sticking with me so far, and I hope you continue to in the future. 
> 
> On a slightly unrelated note, I'm currently writing another fanfiction called Ripple Effect. It focuses on the homunculi, but the twist is that they never left their reality. It's how their story would have gone. If you enjoy my versions of the homunculi and want to see how Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood would have gone with them as the homunculi, you should go check that out!


	15. Chapter 15

Now that he was being carried by Mustang, the walk progressed much faster than it had before. Gluttony managed to stay ahead of them for the duration of their journey, eagerly chatting away about seeing his sister again. Pride could share the sentiment. It had been a much shorter period of time since they had last met, but he was worried sick about her. It was _his_ fault that they were in this mess. _His_ fault that his sister could be hurt, and _his_ fault that they had remained in the town in the first place. He should have told her the moment he suspected something was up, but he had been certain that he would figure out some way to avoid any conflict.

He could tell himself that he had reigned back his pride all he wanted to, but his actions would always speak the truth. He was just as prideful as he had been years ago, and that pride never accomplished any good.

If Mustang noticed the darkening mood of the homunculus he was carrying, he didn't point it out. Pride was grateful for that. He had enough to worry about already. Add in an overly inquisitive colonel and he was likely going to burst. So they continued to make their way through the admittedly beautiful forest in an uncomfortable, deepening silence. By the time the path and the forest finally came to a stop, Pride was ready to fight Jean with everything he had at his disposal.

But then he saw the sight that had enfolded before them.

A lake shimmered in the afternoon sun, the sun's gentle rays reflecting off of its clear waters. Flowers in an endless array of colors had sprung up on the grassy banks surrounding it. If paradise was a place in Amestris, it would be here. He likely would have continued staring at the enchanting sight for an eternity, but Mustang putting him down on the ground beside him was the sudden action he needed to snap him back to the present. 

He peered a little closer. There were two people on the shore. Though it was impossible to make out their facial features from this distance, Lust's distinctive bob and Jean's wheelchair made it easy to identify them. Gluttony was already bounding towards them with a gigantic grin on his face. Mustang and Pride exchanged a quick look before following him.

When they finally reached the two former lovers, Lust had embraced her brother into a hug and Gluttony was in the middle of telling her everything that had happened in the time they had been apart. Jean just watched it from the side, a neutral expression on his face. Not one that showed he didn't care, but one that showed he was uncertain of how to react to a situation like this. Pride wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

“Hi, _Jean_ ,” Pride said. He did the usual: spat the name out, made the shadows at his feet move ever so slightly, and somehow manage to look incredibly terrifying despite his supposed age. But, for once, Jean didn't look all that intimidated by it. If anything, he almost looked a bit guilty. Something that didn't make sense, but, then again, nothing about anything that had happened lately made sense.

“Hey, _Pride_ ,” Jean replied. Which made him hesitate for just a second, because the one time Lust had used that name around him was in a whisper he couldn't have possibly heard. He looked up from the seemingly young boy standing before him, and gave a small salute in the direction of Mustang. “Hey, colonel.”

“Hello, Havoc,” Mustang said. 

Havoc pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. Holding the pack out to the colonel – something Mustang refused with a shake of his head – he said, “I see Pride found you.” He put it in his mouth, the small strands of smoke curling up into the air. “I met Lust. We did some talking.”

Pride spun around and look his sister over. She was now trying to pry herself free from Gluttony's tight grasp, which was always a difficult thing to do when he didn't want to let go. But, besides that current struggle, it appeared that she was doing alright – there were no obvious injuries or cuts to her clothing, and she seemed surprisingly happy.

Pride gave an accusing look in Jean's direction. “You didn't do anything to her?” he questioned, studying him with a scrutinizing gaze. Even if there was no physical injuries, some other form of harm might have befallen her. Or he had hurt her, and the wound had already healed. Whatever the case could be, he had to make sure that everything was alright.

“We talked,” Jean said.

“About what?” he demanded.

Jean was silent for a moment.

“About what?” he repeated, a dangerous tone to his voice.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Glancing up, he saw that Lust had managed to break free from Gluttony's seemingly impossible to escape embrace. His brother was lingering at her side with a finger in his mouth – he was probably hungry – as she looked down at Pride. “We talked about the...discrepancies between our two versions of events.” 

Jean nodded in agreement, turning to his colonel. “If you thought things were bad enough already, wait until you hear the explanation for why Lust is alive.”

Lust gave a small smile. 

“Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter! I apologize for the unannounced hiatus. I temporarily lost my muse for this story, but decided to continue writing it after I only just started watching Brotherhood with my best friend. I'm hoping to rewatch the Briggs arc soon, and will probably post more of this story when I do. 
> 
> In the meantime, I made a Discord server for this fic and its sister fic, Ripple Effect! If you want to join the server, all you have to do is click on the invite link: https://discord.gg/k54PK7S. I'm not sure how many people will end up joining the server, but it'll hopefully be a fun place for us to chat about pretty much anything - including this fic! 
> 
> Thank you again for reading this chapter! I've got a fun couple of chapters planned, and I can't wait to share them with you.


	16. Chapter 16

The plan to get to Resembool was a relatively simple one. All they had to do was take a route that would involve minimal interactions with the military, especially those in higher command. Though they likely wouldn't recognize them straight away, Sloth and Greed both would be a clear indicator that something was amiss once they started playing close enough attention.

But there was just one problem.

The town that Reyes had been planning to stop at it was full of Ishvalan refugees, and even Reyes had apparently noticed the flaw in his plan. He looked exactly like the man who had persecuted their entire race. How could they expect to just walk in there and be accepted when even they wouldn't have done that if their roles were reversed? Envy was stumped. Greed was stumped. Sloth was stumped. Reyes was stumped. They were all stumped, and they couldn't just go around the town and keep moving forward. The weather was simply getting too bad. The clouds had darkened considerably since they had arrived in the north, and that could only mean that a storm was brewing.

Suddenly, Envy let out a loud laugh.

This naturally caused his brothers to give him a concerned look, but he couldn't help it. The answer was obvious. He should have thought of it sooner, but it had been so simple that he hadn't thought of it before now.

“We just make him look different,” Envy said, leaning forward and looking Reyes over. There wasn't much they could do with his appearance, but they could definitely make it work. “Reyes, what did _this_ reality's Wrath look like? You must have seen pictures of him if you were trying to hide your face.”

Rather than give an answer to Envy's question, Reyes reached into his pocket and pulled out the newspaper he had been using. He carefully unfolded it. Then, without giving any indication why he had done so, he passed the paper over to him. Envy looked down. Even without reading the title of the article, he understood why Reyes had handed it to him.

The fuhrer was standing in a photo on the front page.

The resemblance was uncanny, to say the least. Though there were some noticeable differences between the two, like the mustache that the fuhrer had in the place of Reyes' stubble, it was easy to see that they were meant to be each other's counterparts. Both Sloth and Greed joined him and looked down at the photograph in question. It was likely that the Ishvalan refugees had never seen their fuhrer in person. Hopefully, just a few little changes here and there would be enough to conceal the similarities. 

So they got to work.

It was hard considering their lack of resources, but they made due with promises to make the differences even more noticeable when they could get their hands on some hair dye. For now, they stuck with changing up the style of his hair so it was a bit more messy, shaving the stubble that he had with the Ultimate Shield, and trying to get him to slouch a little more when he walked. Unfortunately, the most defining feature – his eye patch – was something they didn't want to initially remove, but they ultimately decided it was for the best to take it off. Reyes would just have to be careful and keep his eye closed when around other people.

And then they set off towards the town.

**xXx**

Any fears they had were almost immediately sated. Despite their unusual appearances, the group was eagerly accepted by the town, and it quickly became apparent that they were desperate for visitors. They tried their best to pay them for their hospitality, but no one there would take their money – they eventually came to a compromise and volunteered throughout the town instead. Sloth, with his sheer size, did a great job carrying firewood and helping with any repairs that needed to be done. Envy took to helping with smaller tasks and running errands, even heading to nearby towns for supplies when their town was running out. Reyes and Greed teamed to help with the kids while their parents and guardians worked. Envy would have never expected either one of them to be so good with kids, but the kids absolutely adored them. 

They fell in a steady rhythm as they waited for the storm to arrive and pass. Though they grew increasingly more worried about how they still hadn't found Pride, Lust and Gluttony, they knew there was little they could do. They would need clear weather if they wanted to easily navigate their path, and couldn't risk getting caught up in a sudden snowstorm.

And so they waited. 

And waited.

And waited.

And just when they thought the storm would never arrive, it finally did. It was a dreadful blizzard, one that only Sloth had ever seen the likes of before. They huddled in the abandoned building the townspeople had so kindly let them stay at and tried to pass the time by talking about their lives. Greed spent hours recounting his exploits with his friends in Dublith. Sloth added in his own stories about life in the north to pass the time. Reyes offered a story or two of his own, mainly about two brothers he had watched over for years. Envy just sat there and took all of it in. What it was like to finally have a family again. What it was like to have friends. It had been a long time since he had been able to experience something like the day they spent huddled together in the building, and Envy wished that they would never have to leave each other when they inevitably returned to their own reality.

The storm finally came to an end, but it wasn't as simple as just leaving the town. They had goodbyes they had to make, and supplies they needed to gather before they continued on their journey. They decided it was best to split up their preparation. Sloth and Reyes went to one part of the town to get their supplies, while Greed and Envy went to the other.

And it was then that all hell broke loose. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter! 
> 
> My brother and I finally got to the part of the anime that matches up with where this fic currently is at, so I finally had the burst of inspiration I needed to continue writing about the four up north. I'm really happy to finally be writing this again, and I've got some fun stuff planned for the future chapters. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! 
> 
> As a friendly reminder, you can find me over at saentiel on Tumblr, and can join the Discord for this and Ripple Effect using this invite link: https://discord.gg/k54PK7S.
> 
> Thanks again for reading! <3


	17. Chapter 17

Reyes had been surprised by how much he was enjoying their time in the little town, and was now even more surprised by how sad he was that they were leaving it. He would have to come back in their own reality and truly get to interact with the people as himself – eye patch and all – but, for now, would just have to make do of the memories he had gained from his time there. He had been spending a lot of time thinking about their odd situation, and how bizarre it was to be considered part of a family.

He had a family back in Resembool. But never once had he been considered a brother, a partner-in-crime (Greed seemed quite fond of that phrase) or someone who wasn't expected to be the most mature and knowledgeable one in a given situation. He may have been close to people before, but never in this sense. It was a strange exhilarating feeling. Though he desperately wanted to return to his own reality, he didn't want to leave the group he had found himself with.

He had spent an especially long time thinking about that, and was reminded of it as he and Sloth made their way to the side of the mountain. There was a storage building there that they had been given permission to go through. Reyes had volunteered to go with Sloth because he felt especially close to the other homunculus. He could tell that Envy and Greed were just a bit closer than Sloth was to either one, and it was something that he could deeply relate to. After all, he had missed out on their childhood, and therefore had missed out on most of the experiences the others had been reminiscing about throughout their stay.

After a short trek from where they had been staying, they arrived at the building. Reyes went to unlock the door. Sloth waited outside, watching the horizon as he waited. Just as he went to open the door, he felt a large hand on his shoulder. 

“Reyes?” Sloth said, his voice quiet. “We have company.”

He turned. Sloth gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze, but he couldn't tell if it was because he thought he thought he needed the reassurance or Sloth needed it. There was a relatively large group of people heading towards the village. Reyes quickly surveyed the group and counted them off; there were six in total. They were too far away to make out any fine details, but the blue military coats two of them were wearing stuck out like a sore thumb.

Reyes looked over at Sloth. 

Sloth looked over at him.

Forget their own safety. People from the military going to a refugee camp was a recipe for disaster, and both of them knew it as they watched them approach. They couldn't run away, not when the lives of the townspeople were at stake. Reyes thought over their options. He finally turned to face Sloth, a plan already beginning to form. It was far from his smartest, but they had nothing else. 

“We need to get Envy and Greed,” he said, keeping his voice low so no one overheard him using their real names. “And I need my sword. I think it's best if you go to get them and my sword.”

Sloth glanced between the approaching group and Reyes. He looked like he had something he wanted to say about the plan, but ultimately decided against it as he hurried back into town. Reyes took a deep breath, counted to ten and tried his best to quell his shaking hand. He could already feel a knot of anger forming in his stomach, twisting and churning as he casually walked towards the group. 

Their features slowly grew clearer as they bridged the distance between each other. The group was certainly an odd one. There was a weasel of a man who lingered behind the rest, huffing and puffing and complaining so loud that Reyes could hear bits and pieces of it from where he was. There was the small Xingese girl and a panda resting on her shoulder. The two military men, tall and muscular.

And then he saw the last three, and almost fainted in shock.

There was a man who matched the description that Greed and Envy had given of a certain Dr. Tim Marcoh. By association, the girl had to be Mei Chang. According to what he had heard, the two should have never been traveling with two soldiers. Then there was the Ishvalan man with the scar across his forehead. He knew the reports, and knew the risks the man presented – he was Scar, and he was the one who killed state alchemists in the name of his God. A bizarre member, considering that there was the two soldiers.

Last of all was a girl he recognized so well that it just seemed impossible for her to be all the way out in the north. Winry was here. Winry, the girl who he had known since she was in diapers. Winry, the girl he had cared about just as much as if she was his own relative. Winry, the girl who had asked him to go up to Briggs before this happened to get some automail supplies she had heard about on the grapevine.

Once he realized she was there, he noticed that the group was carrying an assortment of parts to a suit of armor that he recognized just as quickly as he recognized Winry. It was Al's. But why was he in pieces, and where was his brother? Worry and anger clawed at him as the group finally reached where he had come to a stop. And though he knew that saying something like this would only cause unnecessary confusion and panic, Reyes couldn't help himself. He had to know. The Elric brothers had been traveling together only days earlier. Why would they suddenly be apart now, especially when Al was in pieces? Ed should have been by his side if he knew his brother was torn apart, desperately trying to put him together again.

“Where's Ed?” he asked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, and thanks for reading this chapter! I wasn't planning on posting such a short chapter right after the last one, but I wanted to get one up before my family goes off on our camping trip this week. My goal is to work more on this fic this upcoming week, but I have a couple of other stories I need to work on as well. At the very least, you can expect an another update by the end of this month! 
> 
> As a friendly reminder, you can find me over at saentiel on Tumblr, and can join the Discord for this and Ripple Effect using this invite link: https://discord.gg/k54PK7S.
> 
> Thanks again for reading! <3


	18. Chapter 18

The moment that the words had left the man's mouth, the group had all tensed. Winry, who was still new to all of the wild and bizarre things that her childhood friends had experienced since becoming involved with the military, tensed the most out of all of them. Everyone else present was somewhat acquainted with the idea of homunculi and chimeras and dangerous encounters on deserted hillsides, but Winry was still having trouble taking it all in. And to hear this man – this oddly familiar man – throw around Ed's nickname like he somehow knew him, and with a concern that suggested they were more than just acquaintances, admittedly frightened her. If this man knew Ed so well, wouldn't she have known who he was?

“Who are you?” Scar asked. There was a threatening tone to his question; knowing what he was capable of made Winry almost fear for this stranger's life. 

The man was silent for a moment. Winry saw that he had clenched his hands into fists, but he wasn't going to attack them. He just stood there, taking them all in with his single eye as he took deep gulps of the cold, mountain air. “My name is Reyes Eberhardt,” he said. His voice trembled, but not with fear – it was with barely concealed anger. “You never answered my question. Where is Edward Elric?” 

Jerso took a step forward. “What do you want with the Elrics?”

“I just want to know what happened to Ed,” Reyes said.

Now Zampano also took a step forward. It seemed like a battle was on the verge of breaking out, and Winry was stuck standing on the sidelines. And though Winry was confused and frightened, she found herself taking a step forward as well. She looked Reyes in the eye. Studied him. Tried to figure out where she recognized him from, and why he would be so interested in her childhood friend.

Then she saw the scarred tissue around the eye he had stubbornly kept closed, and she realized why he looked so familiar. Replace the closed eye with an eye patch. Slick back his hair. Give him a mustache. Switch his old coat with a military uniform. Now he was no longer a stranger – he was someone that everyone in Amestris knew. 

“You're Fuhrer King Bradley,” she incredulously said.

Alarm shot through the group. The chimeras started to adopt their more animalistic forms. Scar readied his alchemy. Yoki hid behind one of the chimeras. Mei readied her knives. Dr. Marcoh adopted a solemn look on his face. And Winry took several steps back, knowing just how bad things had to be if the Fuhrer had shown up.

To make matters even worse, it looked like they had company.

A group of three people appeared on the very edge of the camp, each more intimidating than the last. The first of these was a man who didn't look particularly terrifying; he just held himself in a way that suggested he was a threat. The second one that came to a sudden halt was dressed in a winter coat, sunglasses and a fedora – the last of these three things reminded everyone of Kimblee. And then there was the most physically horrifying: a giant of a man who towered above even the tallest people in their group. 

The man with the fedora slid down the mountainside, coming to a stop beside Fuhrer Bradley. He surveyed the group from behind those admittedly tacky sunglasses of his as the other two newcomers joined the fuhrer. “So are we going to-”

“Dr. Marcoh?” the least intimidating man said. 

Everyone turned to stare at Dr. Marcoh. In response to the question, he blinked, and then answered it with a question of his own. “ _Envy_?”

If they had been terrified when they realized that Fuhrer Bradley had shown up, the group was now absolutely horrified at the realization that Envy had decided to join in as well. Winry knew very little about Envy, but the others did – and their reactions indicated that he was a man to be feared. Everyone looked like they were on the verge of attacking, but none of them went far enough to do it.

Except Mei and Dr. Marcoh, oddly enough.

Neither one of them had made any sort of move that indicated they were frightened or prepared for a fight. They both just stood there, studying the four opponents that had appeared from the depths of the refugee camp. 

“Oh, hey!” the man with the fedora said, peering down at Mei. “Panda girl!” 

The girl in question immediately perked up.

“Greed!” she declared, grinning. 

Greed, as he was apparently called, returned the grin with one of his own – one that displayed a set of impossibly sharp teeth. “My brother never said that he saw you or Dr. Marcoh,” he said, pointing back at the tall man. Who, now that Winry was paying closer attention, didn't seem all that intimidating. The only thing scary about him was his stature, and the look on his face made it clear that he wasn't really a terrifying person.

The man blinked. “...They're the people you met at the cabin, right?”

Envy gave a small nod. He was busy studying Jerso and Zampano, both of whom were midway between human and chimera. Then he turned to look at Scar, who still seemed like he wanted to grab onto him with his hand and kill the homunculus with his alchemy. “You're with two soldiers,” Envy slowly said. “And Scar.”

Dr. Marcoh nodded. “They're good people,” he assured him.

Yoki, who had been busy cowering behind Zampano, finally made his presence known. “Aren't these four homunculi? Should you be attacking them before they can harm us?” For once, Winry found herself nodding in agreement with him.

“These aren't our homunculi,” Dr. Marcoh said.

Scar's arm dropped to his side, and he turned to stare at Dr. Marcoh. “What do you mean? That man-” Here he gestured at Fuhrer Bradley. “-looks like the leader of your country. The one you're talking to is the one who captured you, and the other two must be just as bad-”

“They're good guys!” Mei cut him off. “They're from another reality. They're not like the homunculi here – this Envy's good, and same thing with this Greed. They helped reunite me and Xiao Mei when we got separated, and Greed gave me the bread that we ate in the cabin, Scar!”

A silence fell over the group. 

“They're from a _what_?” Winry said.

Dr. Marcoh sighed. “It's a long story.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there. I apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter up. While I can't promise that I'll be any quicker with the next one, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get another chapter up in the relatively near future. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this one - I decided to try writing it from a new character's perspective!


End file.
